Kona BikeTown Africa

AfricaBike: Jasper BikeTown

For four years the Jasper, Alberta, Canada municipality and a local bike shop have successfully created and stoked-out community members with their own, yet different, version of BikeTown.

Each year, the project doles out new bikes to cycle-goers to encourage people to ride  around town on two wheels instead of four. This year, the program will be giving away eight brand spanking new Kona AfricaBikes to residents who write a short essay detailing how they or someone they know would benefit from the use of a bike for the summer.
The lucky winners get the new rigs.

The program educates people about climate change and  demonstrates how small daily changes like riding your bike to work can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve air quality and alleviate traffic and parking congestion. It also helps increase your fitness level and currency in your wallet from not having to shell out cash for expensive gas.

Nice moves Jasper! Check the full story here http://cgi.bowesonline.com/pedro.php?id=69&x=story&xid=401059.

Going The Distance - Campaign Style

She's done it! Our AfricaBike all-star campaigner Christine George has reached her goal of raising $10,000 for the BikeTown program - and says that she even surpassed it. The professional number crunchers (read: Virginia Tech honors students) are compiling the grand total as we write and will have a final number in due time.

One major campaign donor was the Wytheville, VA Rotary Club who's members ended up  giving $2,200! Here's Christine (middle) with the group.

Other major campaign donors included: Patricia Caldwell ($1,000), Dr. Jack Dudley ($600), VT Communication Skills Classes ($600), Ava Howard ($500), Wiley Contracting Co. ($500), Members of the VT WLP Council ($500), and the VT College of Vet. Med. Class of '09 ($400).

Simply awesome. Ultimately, these donations will help save lives.

Thanks for your generosity.

AfricaBike in June Reader's Digest

The AfricaBike graces the pages of the June issue of Reader's Digest in a story titled "Four Ways of Looking at a Bicycle" - the best thing on two wheels in Africa, Germany, New York City and Paris. Looking at the AfricaBike "As a Lifesaver," the article goes on to explain the importance of the AfricaBike to healthcare workers (and others) in sub- Saharan Africa and how it has become a vital means of transportation. It also features three other bikes in the categories: as a concept, as a memorial and as community property.

Check the story out here: http://www.rd.com/your-america-inspiring-people-and-stories/4-ways-of-looking-at-a-bicycle/article58758.html. 

Happy Bike Month

For most of the country and locations across the globe, the month of May is the bridge between spring and summer - unless you live in Jackson, WY where May (at least this year) just means more winter and snow!

Hence, May is national bike month and the time to pull-out the bikes from the depths of the  garage and basement (or just buck up and buy a new rig to replace that beater of yours) and start pedaling. Not only does biking to work, the grocery store, your kids soccer game, the movies, help transport four-legged friends or the local pub promote fun and exercise, it keeps you away from the pump - which your wallet will smile at you about. Considering that gas prices have soared over $4.00 a gallon recently, riding your bike will also let you save some extra coin for that long awaited trip to Hawaii or the Maldives you've always been pushing off.

So, Bike-to-Work Week is from May 12-16 and Bike-to-Work Day is on Friday May 16. Keep the car in the driveway for a day, or week, and see how it feels. I bet you'll like it.

And, back to that beater of yours ... why not hop on an AfricaBike for size. A new set of stylish wheels for the season and the chance to contribute to a noble cause. A no-brainer, really!

To locate your local Kona dealer check here http://dealer.konaworld.com/index.php?country=US.

Campaign Wiz Honored At VT

Talented Virginia Tech senior and honors student Christine George isn't your typical graduating student. Nope, she's more the atypical kind.

The kind that, besides spearheading a super-successful AfricaBike fundraiser campaign over the last few months, was recently awarded the 2008 Outstanding Senior in the College of Science for the 2007-2008 academic year http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/story.php?relyear=2008&itemno=285.

The purpose of the award is to recognize outstanding student performance in each college of the university. Students are selected on the basis of their quality credit average (3.4 or higher on a 4.0 scale) and outstanding performance in several or all of the following areas: academic achievement, extracurricular activities, leadership positions and contributions of service to the university and/or community. She also reeled in the USA Today’s All-USA College Academic First Team, among numerous other awards and scholarships.

As for her commitment to Kona's Biketown Africa program: Impressive. Christine has raised more than $8,000 through donations and events associated with her fundraising campaign, with sights set on breaking her goal of $10K.

Check her updated progress here.

In other news, generous Biketown and Adopt-a-bike donations keep pouring in. Most recently, the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas sent a kind gesture of $2,500. One of the school's bike enthusiastic faculty members read about the program in the Dec 07 issue of Bicycling magazine and the wheels started turning immediately. Thanks!

Russians Ride AfricaBikes...Ya, They Do

The Kona AfricaBike is all the buzz in Russia, and mainly the capital of Moscow. Recently featured in the trendy publication Where Moscow as one of the "hot" (still waiting for the Russian translation) new rides for city folk, the versatile AfricaBike is hitting the spotlight as somewhat of a trend setter nowadays.

A monthly, full-color, glossy, illustrated guide to culture and entertainment in Moscow (in Russian and English), the mag is part of a 70-year-old international network of Where Magazines distributed in 43 major cities in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia.

Paris is next.   

What Can You Do With 30 Bucks?

Nowadays, $30 is like a dollar. Which begs the question, what can you do with 120 quarters? You could: buy lunch with an x-large drink, buy a pitcher of margaritas and chips at your favorite Mexican restaurant, get your kid's haircuts, fill your car halfway with gas, buy tickets for two to the movies and maybe have enough to splurge on Milk Duds and a small popcorn, play one hand of blackjack in Vegas, buy a descent bottle of wine, get your clothes dry cleaned...

...Or buy a t-shirt. But not just any t-shirt, an AfricaBike t-shirt. Made from 100-percent organic cotton and environmentally-friendly dyes, the new men's and women's AfricaBike t-shirt is $30 worth investing. Not only will it add some style to your wardrobe, but all proceeds from the sales of AfricaBike tee's will go directly to the BikeTown program which assists African healthcare workers treat HIV/AIDS patients.

So next time you wonder where your last $30 went, think about the shirt you're wearing and the people in Africa.

Buy a tee today here: http://content.konaworld.com/webstore/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=262    

2008 BikeTown Africa Update

For those who have been keeping track of the latest news on this blog you know that the countdown to BikeTown Africa is drawing near. Our anticipated travels to South Africa, Mozambique and Swaziland to deliver approximately 1,000 AfricaBikes to assist healthcare workers in their treatment of HIV/AIDS patients will begin in June with the shipment of a bunch of bikes.

Tentatively, AfricaBikes are slated to land on the Western Cape starting in the beginning of June and will be held in a storage facility on a short term basis. At the end of the month, roughly 250 AfricaBikes will be distributed between the sites of Delft and Stellenbosch. In Delft, the bikes will head to the NGO Ma Africa Tikkun which cares for children who are either living with HIV/AIDS or have (or lost) a parent that was inflicted with the disease. In Stellenbosch, the bikes will go to a hospice associated with Bristol Myers Squibb Secure the Future Foundation.

Both sites will receive helmets, as well as AfricaBike maintenance training. Bicycling magazine's crew on the ground in South Africa will help with encouraging professional riders to come along and assist with bike building and handover - acting as role models for the communities.

More updates will be forthcoming. For more information on the BikeTown Africa program contact Base Camp Communication's Keith Cozzens at kcozzens@basecampcomm.com or 307-734-7575.

Hitting The Campaign Trail At VT

Hitting the campaign trail is generally designated for politicians...not bike lovers. Our Virgina Tech friend Christine George doesn't speak at podiums or promise good healthcare, but she does run successful campaigns - and is a bike lover. Not to mention a precocious humanitarian.

Since early February, Christine and her troops have been pounding the pavement on an AfricaBike adoption campaign mission to get the message out about the Biketown project to their constituents. The goal's to raise awareness and $10K. So far it's working.

For updates on the campaign check here.  

Cycle For Africa Rides The UK

The UK-based organization Cycle For Africa is on a good, noble mission to boost education in Africa. On September 15, 2008 Matthew and Jonathon Norton and Cleveland Henry - the masterminds behind the group - will embark on a cycling journey from Land's End to John O'Groats. Covering the entire length of the UK from north to south, the trio's goal (besides sampling the regions best fish 'n chips and frothy pints) is to complete the route in eight days while covering distances of between 70 and 140 miles per day. Why?

In partnership with The Maasai Heritage Preservation Foundation, Cycle For Africa will be raising funds, and education awareness, to construct, furnish, equip and maintain a school where English and Swahili will be taught, as well as courses on the Maasai heritage. A school that has been supported through Cycle for Africa and the Maasai Heritage Preservation Foundation for the past year has been identified as the location for the first school project. The school is named Memusi and is located in the Magadi region of Kenya.

Throughout the next year, several events will take place to start raising funds towards the new school. Corporate and small fundraising events are currently slated with hopes of reaching their goal of having the opportunity to provide Africans education.

This isn't a one-and-done fundraiser project either. Cycle for Africa and the Maasai Heritage Foundation are scheduling sustained work each year to provide education to those who need it most in Africa.

Kona is proud to be a partner of Cycle For Africa. Full details of the organizations program can be found here.