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Posts Tagged ‘88bikes’

Mobile Adventure Studio Supporting Bike Rides for Kids – First 88bikeshop Unveiled On Navajo Nation

Saturday, October 1st, 2011

88bikes just built its first 88bikeshop on the Navajo Nation in Utah! Designed by DesignBuildBLUFF and built by DBB staff and volunteers and 88bikes volunteers, it is sustainable, mobile, fully powered by solar panels, and built primarily from salvaged materials.

The 88bikeshop will be a base camp for bike workshops and clinics for kids on the Navajo Nation who will receive bikes this September. The 88bikeshop will also be a mobile adventure studio, supporting bike rides for kids throughout the area.

Thanks to KEEN, Osprey Packs and Eddie Bauer/First Ascent for supporting the 88bikeshop; thanks also to Kona bikes for sponsoring 50 rugged, hip, World Bikes for the project. The 88bikeshop was officially unveiled during the Moment of Happy on the Navajo Nation on September 7-8, 2011.

You can learn more here about 88Bikes, which is one of our Hybrid.Care partners.

Wend Magazine’s Platform – An Interview with Dan Austin of 88Bikes

Thursday, May 19th, 2011

Platform is a section in which Wend Magazine donates space to activists working to make the planet a better place to live.

platform601

Dan Austin is executive director and co-founder of 88Bikes, a nonprofit organization that delivers bicycles to children who face challenges due to war, conflict, poverty, disease or other regional hardships. To learn more about 88Bikes, visit 88Bikes.org.

Wend: Tell us about the humble beginnings of 88Bikes.

Austin: My brother, Jared, and I were going to do a ride across Cambodia, and we decided to give our bikes away at the end. Through some contacts at National Geographic, we found a good orphanage in Phnom Penh. We realized a couple (of) weeks before we left, though, that there were 88 kids in the orphanage, meaning 86 kids would be left out. So we threw a fundraiser, launched a website and within four days we had all the donations we needed to give bikes to all 88 kids. It was such a scene of jubilation and pure, unbridled happiness that we knew right then that we needed to do it again.

Click here to read the entire interview by  WEND Magazine.

Fourth Year and Four Locations: 88Bikes Goes to Ghana, India, Nepal and Vietnam

Saturday, December 18th, 2010

CBS Evening News did this story about Co-Founder Dan Austin and 88Bikes work on Project Four.

About 88bikes Foundation

The mission of 88Bikes Foundation is to provide bikes – a sustainable, joyful, empowering form of transportation – to young people in developing countries who have been affected by war, conflict, poverty, disease, or other regional hardships. To do so, they rely on individual donations of $88, which is the approximate cost of a bike in most developing countries.

CBS News – Re-Cycling Hope with 88 Bikes Foundation

Thursday, March 18th, 2010

CBS News
Re-Cycling Hope
March 13, 2010 6:08 PM

Two young Americans are helping others all over the world by giving bikes away to the less fortunate. As Jeff Glor reports, 88Bikes is spreading smiles, two wheels at a time.

Commuting to Work – 88 Bikes Raffle Winner Enjoys Her New Bike

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

Dear KEEN,

Wow – thank you so much.

Wendy Kerr - 88 Bike Donation Winner

I was super inspired by the 88 Bikes presentation at the KEEN booth during the Interbike Tradeshow. I hardly ever donate to anything (a part from IMBA, of course) but this program, being such a tangible and life-changing gift for so many kids around the world, was just too compelling. And KEEN’s match made it so affordable that I couldn’t afford NOT to donate. I never thought I would win the bike, but it was fun checking it out and fantasizing. And now – boom! I’m gonna have a sweet new bike to take to work on every day. I ride to work every day on my road bike, which is nice and fast, but a death trap in rainy, icy or snowy conditions. Needless to say, I’m super excited – you have not only made my day, but my entire winter!

For me, bikes represent freedom of mobility, much like the car is for many people and that is exactly what 88 Bikes is giving to these kids across the world – freedom.

Thank you!!!

Wendy
International Mountain Biking Association

Boulder, Colorado

You Can Help Distribute Bikes to Orphans in Ghana, India, Nepal and Vietnam

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

Dear Friends:

There are 27 million slaves in the world today, many of them children. For kids rescued from slavery, their journey toward independence and healing is arduous. This year, 88bikes honors the heroism of these children by launching a multi-country endowment.  In early 2010, 88bikes will travel to Ghana, India, Nepal and Vietnam, endowing orphanages, ashrams, centers and schools sheltering children rescued from human trafficking. The Moment of Happy will occur in January, 2010 at more than a dozen sites throughout the world. 300+ children will receive a bicycle and the training to maintain it.

88bikes is partnering with Free The Slaves and Touch A Life, two non-profit organizations dedicated to the eradication of slavery. A bike is that magical vessel of freedom and fun, the rare tool as useful as it is enjoyable. For these children–as all children–a bike will provide joy, freedom and autonomy. A bike will help each child get to school and explore her world. At certain locations 88bikes will set up on-site bike shops and sponsor in-depth bike repair apprenticeships. Every kid should have a bike!

You can support 88bikes Project4 by making a donation anytime at 88bikes.org. The cost of a bike is 88 dollars and it is totally tax-deductible. As every year, we’ll ask you to submit a photo of yourself, or the person in whose name the bike is donated, to give to your sponsored child, along with the bike. We’ll send you a packet in early 2010 with a picture of your sponsored child on her new bike holding your picture. If you’d like to buy the bike as a gift, you can print out a gift card at 88bikes.org. I am also happy to send along a handwritten 88bikes post card to your friend, introducing her to the project.

As always, 100% of every donation goes directly to the children. We don’t take salaries or keep office space and all project participants are volunteers. Jared and I will personally deliver the bikes to every location. Nick and several volunteers may join us for one or more legs of the journey.

Thanks for supporting 88bikes! As always, please drop me a note (dan@88bikes.org) if you have any questions. I’ll be thrilled to hear from you.

With enthusiasm,

Dan, Jared and Nick

88bikes.org


New Hybrid.Care Partnership with 88bikes Foundation

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

KEEN is partnering with 88bikes Foundation. The non-profit dedicated to providing bikes to young people in developing countries is the newest KEEN Hybrid.Care partner.

“88bikes is an outstanding organization. Through the power of their all-volunteer staff and the donations that they raise, they have given more than 400 bikes to kids in refugee camps, orphanages and other challenging living situations in developing countries,” commented Linda Tom, Marketing Manager at KEEN.  ”KEEN is proud to support their efforts. They are a perfect fit with our Hybrid.Care program, which partners with social and environmental organizations actively working towards the greater good.”

KEEN will launch the new partnership with 88bike at the Interbike International Trade Expo, which takes place September 23 to 25 in Las Vegas. As part of the launch, KEEN will match the first 100 donations to 88bikes. Donation will buy bikes for their 2010 initiative, which will focus on delivering bikes to children who have been rescued from human trafficking in several countries across a few continents.

As a Hybrid.Care partner, 88bikes will receive funding from KEEN to provide tools and bike maintenance training for bicycle recipients, in addition to the matching donations for bikes.

“We are honored to receive support from KEEN and to join the company of their other impressive Hybrid.Care partners,” said Dan Austin, Founder. “Through their support, we’ll have a strong start to our new campaign, hopefully providing more bikes than ever to kids in need.”

Hybrid.Care was created in 2004 to support social and environmental organizations that have paved the way for change through community, education and understanding. Since 2004, KEEN has partnered with more than 20 global environmental, conservation and social non-profit organizations, and has distributed more than $1.5 million. Other current partners include American Whitewater, Leave No Trace, The Conservation Alliance and the Youth Outdoors Legacy Fund.