World Bicycle Relief Announced 2012 Tour de France and Olympic Games Fundraising Campaign

July 9, 2012 - PRLog -- World Bicycle Relief, an organization that transforms the lives of individuals and their communities through The Power of Bicycles®, has launched its 2012 Tour de France and Olympic Games fundraising campaign with Chris Horner: Tour rider, Olympian and member of Team World Bicycle Relief. To date, World Bicycle Relief has distributed over 105,000 specially designed and locally assembled rugged bicycles to students, health care workers and entrepreneurs. It has also trained over 750 bike mechanics in African communities to ensure that recipients’ personal mobility is sustained.  

As hundreds of millions of viewers focus their attention on the 2012 Tour de France and Olympic games in London, cycling is taking center stage this summer.  In the spirit of these historic events, World Bicycle Relief has made a call to action: offer a contribution that will channel the love of cycling and Power of Bicycles® to help those in need.  The first $30,000 pledged will be matched by an anonymous donor through July 31, 2012. Donations will support World Bicycle Relief in improving access to education, healthcare and economic opportunity for individuals and communities in rural areas.

To make a donation, please visit: https://donate.worldbicyclerelief.org/page/contribute/liv...-
•   $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

“A professional cyclist like Chris Horner lives to ride. A professional transporter like Martin, who hauls goods from farms to markets in rural Kenya, rides to live,” said F.K. Day, President of World Bicycle Relief and Executive Vice President of SRAM Corporation.  “The incredible distances that the Tour de France riders and Olympic cyclists race highlight a bicycle’s ability to transform overwhelming distances into achievable commutes.  We ask that people join Chris and World Bicycle Relief, offering support to help those in need ride to live.”

“In rural Africa, the bicycle is what really allows people to go to school, to see friends, to work and to provide for their families,” stated Horner. “World Bicycle Relief is changing lives. When you give somebody a bike, you’ve given them the freedom to expand the size of their world.”

To view Chris Horner’s 2012 Tour de France and Olympic Games fundraising campaign video, please go to: http://youtu.be/UK7mt8NXLoM



To follow the campaign, join World Bicycle Relief on facebook (http://www.facebook.com/worldbicyclerelief) and twitter (@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, please visit: www.worldbicyclerelief.org

Media Contact:
Rick Keating, keating/co
rkeating@keatingco.com
Office: 212.925.6900
Mobile: 917.767.2400