Seattle area residents parted with some 350 bicycles last weekend so Hurricane Katrina evacuees can have some way to get around.
Another Katrina Bikes Partnership Project collection is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, at Magnuson Park, 7400 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle.
The local donations are part of a nationwide effort to provide bikes to people who were forced from their homes by the hurricanes. The bikes will be delivered to centers in Baton Rouge and Lake Charles in mid-November.
Volunteers are needed this weekend to inspect the bikes and make minor repairs, although organizers at the Seattle Bicycle Touring Club ask that donated bicycles be in good condition.
Also needed: helmets, pumps, locks, backpacks, new water bottles, patch kits, tire levers, and red flashing lights.
This press release gives all the details:
Seattle, WA (PRWEB) November 3, 2005 — A 1930’s vintage sport bike, a TREK 950 mountain bike with high-end Shimano components valued at over $700, a 1970’s era 10-speed rescued from the depths of Lake Washington and a dozen unclaimed bikes from the Seattle Police Department’s evidence unit are among the 365 bikes of all colors, shapes and sizes donated to hurricane relief this weekend at Seattle’s Magnuson Park through the Katrina Bikes Partnership Project.
Orchestrated by Seattle cyclist Beryl Fernandes, and Louisiana hurricane evacuee, Jerome Ringo, Chairman of the Board of the National Wildlife Federation, along with the help of Seattle Police, Seattle Parks and Recreation, Seattle Public Schools, Seattle Bike Touring Club and public groups in Baton Rouge, the Katrina Bikes Partnership Project is a citizen-to-citizen bike donation program designed to help improve the lives of hurricane evacuees and to help relieve traffic gridlock in their new community.
The Katrina Bikes project, which resumes from 10am to 5pm this Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 5 & 6, is one of several programs around the country that have already collected, shipped and distributed several thousand bicycles to residents of hurricane-affected communities. In September, with the help of actress Sandra Bullock, cyclists in Austin, Texas donated over 1,000 bikes in less than two days for hurricane relief. A similar program in Boulder, Colorado recently collected over 300 bikes for evacuees in Baton Rouge.
“We have already far-exceeded our expectations,” said Fernandes who sees the program’s success as not just an ambitious collection of bikes but real people coming together to help those in need. “On Saturday, a couple brought us a bike that belonged to their son who had been deceased for ten years,” said Fernandes, a Seattle urban planning consultant. “They weren’t able to give up the bike until they heard about our project. They felt this was the right fit and that the bike would go to a loving place where people in need can make use of it.”
Throughout the weekend, cyclists from all around western Washington brought in bikes that have been pedaled on nearly every road, trail and track in the area, including Jack Johnson and Bernadette Smith, of Arlington, Wash., who on Sunday, made the 35 mile drive south to Magnuson Park to donate two new women’s Huffy Avenue bikes. “We just heard about this on TV news last night,” said Smith, 49. “Before today, we haven’t donated our time or money to any of the relief efforts and thought that this was a good idea. I hope others can do whatever they can – it really does make a difference.”
Bikes are being collected, examined and repaired by volunteers from local bicycle clubs, businesses, schools and even relocated evacuee-students at the UW. The bikes are then shipped, courtesy of Yellow Transportation, to hurricane affected regions in Louisiana and to relocated evacuee-students on the UW and Seattle University campuses.
“Like everyone else I wanted to get involved,” said Susan Tom, a Tulane University Ph. D. candidate in Pharmacology who relocated to the UW after levy breaks along Lake Pontchartrain closed Tulane and flooded her apartment. “I spoke to someone at FEMA who said there was 8 to 10 feet of water on my street,” said Tom, 28, of New Orleans, who was both a bike recipient and among the 100 volunteers who turned out over the weekend to clean and repair bikes. “I’ve been relying on public transportation since I’ve been here,” she added. “This will make my life easier — getting between classes and to the lab.”
Following a long Sunday of adjusting gears, oiling chains and pumping tires, volunteer Rob Colon, 44, a master bike tech at the South Center / Tukwila REI, pointed out some rare finds including a vintage 1960’s Raleigh three-speed. “This was built when Raleigh was still manufacturing bikes in England,” said Colon. “It even has a Brooks leather saddle — that’s rare.” Among Colon’s other finds was a custom Terry — one of the first bikes manufactured in the world specifically for women, and a 1970’s era 10-speed covered in rust and mud with an ample growth of milfoil hanging from its derailleur. “This one has been underwater for a few years,” said a grinning Colon. “We’ll give it a quick look and read her last rites.”
The Katrina bike collection resumes this Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 5pm, Nov. 5 & 6 at Magnuson Park. To donate a bike or volunteer, please visit www.seattlebiketours.org.
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