World Bicycle Relief Announced its 2012 Year-End Fundraising Campaign: The Solution

Nov. 8, 2012 - PRLog -- World Bicycle Relief, the organization that transforms the lives of individuals and communities through The Power of Bicycles®, has announced its 2012 year-end fundraising campaign: “The Solution.” The campaign highlights the significance of supporting World Bicycle Relief to equip individuals and communities with bicycles as a solution for improving access to education, healthcare and economic opportunity in rural areas and developing countries. Targeting $1.2 million in charitable contributions to equip more than 8,000 people with bicycles, donations made between November 1 and December 31, 2012 will be matched by World Bicycle Relief’s board and a small group of anonymous donors (up to $1.2 million).

Since 2005, World Bicycle Relief has provided over 116,000 specially designed and locally assembled bicycles to some of the world’s most impoverished communities.   Currently working in 12 African countries, the organization has created five assembly facilities, trained more than 800 bike mechanics, and established partnership initiatives to strengthen local economies and ensure sustained mobility for bicycle recipients.  

“In rural areas of Africa where severe heat and long distances separate people from resources, access to transportation often determines a person’s access to life’s basic needs,” commented F.K. Day, President of World Bicycle Relief and Executive Vice President of SRAM Corporation. “I recently returned from our field operations in Zambia, where 100 new bicycles were delivered to a community school. I was struck by the way students looked beyond the immediate benefits of transportation to value the bicycles as a means of accessing opportunity in the long term – a mobility solution with the potential to transform lives. Today, we encourage people to become a part of the solution by supporting World Bicycle Relief with charitable contributions that will help mobilize those in need.”

To view Word Bicycle Relief’s 2012 Solution campaign video, please click the thumbnail or visit: http://youtu.be/4XnQdPYk390



Donations can be made on the World Bicycle Website at: https://donate.worldbicyclerelief.org/page/contribute/the-solution

World Bicycle Relive giving options include:

·       $50 enables a field mechanic with tools

·       $134 empowers an individual with a bicycle

·       $250 provides a training course and materials to a field mechanic

·       $670 mobilizes a group with five bicycles

·       $1,340 energizes a community with ten bicycles

To celebrate the gift of mobility this holiday season, donors to World Bicycle Relief may choose to send a special e-card or downloadable card, dedicating the gift in the name of friends, family members, coworkers or loved ones. For contributions of $134 or more, the organization will mail a personalized, printed gift card for donors. Employees of the United States Federal Government can also support World Bicycle Relief through the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) via automatic payroll deduction.

“By designing bicycles to endure the rugged terrain and distributing them through a system that incentivizes service-to-own, supports local maintenance and evaluates impact, Word Bicycle Relief offers an effective and sustainable solution to the challenges of distances here in rural Africa,” said Dave Neiswander, World Bicycle Relief’s Africa Director. “This solution has improved attendance among female students by up to 20 percent and grades by up to 30 percent. This solution helps healthcare workers reach more patients. It enables local farmers to transport more goods to market. This seemingly simple solution can change the life of an individual, a family and even a whole community.”

Cyclist, activist and popular Fat Cyclist blogger Elden Nelson, commonly known as “Fatty” (http://www.fatcyclist.com), is supporting World Bicycle Relief’s 2012 Solution campaign with his own goal of raising $250,000 for the organization.

“I've seen exactly what an incredibly stand-up organization World Bicycle Relief is, and I've seen the astonishing change a single bicycle makes in the lives of multiple people,” said Elden Nelson. “So this year, I want to do more a lot more. The number I have in mind is kind of huge: $250,000 - a quarter of a million dollars. You know what that will do? That will buy bikes for 1,800 kids. And it will train and outfit 36 bike mechanics for employment — one mechanic for every 50 bikes. That's more than 1,800 lives, changed for the better in permanent, powerful ways.”

To support the cause and follow the campaign, join World Bicycle Relief on facebook (http://www.facebook.com/worldbicyclerelief) and twitter (@PowerOfBicycles (https://twitter.com/PowerOfBicycles)).

About World Bicycle Relief:

World Bicycle Relief is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to providing people in need with access to independence and livelihood through The Power of Bicycles®. World Bicycle Relief’s mission is accomplished by designing, sourcing and manufacturing bicycles designed to withstand African terrain and conditions, while meeting the needs of students, healthcare workers, farmers, and entrepreneurs. The work performed by World Bicycle Relief encourages local economies and promotes long-term sustainability by locally assembling bicycles, training mechanics, strengthening the spare parts supply chain, in addition to providing high-quality, affordable bicycles to people in need of transportation.

For more information on World Bicycle Relief, please visit www.worldbicyclerelief.org

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