Phase 2

The donations keep coming in! We are over $450, which means $900 with the dollar for dollar matching at World Bicycle Relief! Holy Cow!!!

With that in mind, we have come up with, what I hope is, a great new incentive to give to this amazing organization. Caryl and I have each chosen some of our photos to have professionally printed in a very limited addition with just 5 of each available. Each will be signed and numbered by Caryl or myself. Each will be printed to a size compatible with an 8x10 frame.

Change Someone's Life. Buy Some Art!

$20 gets you one, $40 gets you 2 and $60 gets you all three! Every penny of that purchase goes directly as a donation to World Bicycle Relief. And if you donate before Dec 31st, WBR is able to match that donation dollar for dollar. Twice the bike love, people!

Interested? Donate here, write "Change Your Life. Ride A Bike!" in the box for "In honor of", and the blog address in the little box provided (cylrab@gmail.com). If you wish to have one of the photos then forward the thank you email they send you with the amount you donated so we know how many pictures to send you along with an address of where to send your photos.

Photos will be shipped mid-January and we will ship overseas, so if you are on the other side of the world, don't be shy!

We Did It!

We have reached 10!!! Not only that, a couple of our readers gave way more than $15 so we have exceeded our initial goal (I am working with WBR to find out exactly how much we are raising!) Thank you so much!!!!

The scarf giveaway is done (I can only knit so much!), but I think we can keep this going in a different way. World Bicycle Relief is matching all donations dollar for dollar through the 31st of December. Maybe I can come up with a new giveaway (I have some surprises up my sleeves).
If you are still on the fence about sending a donation think about this- girls in Africa are expected to complete all household chores before doing anything else, which frequently includes heavy animal care and fetching water from wells far from home. This all has to be done before going to school, usually several miles from home. Imagine fetching enough water for a family of 5 from 5 blocks away by foot everyday. Imagine then walking 4 miles to school . All before 7 am. All when you are 12 years old. Could you do it without help? A $15 donation could make that help happen.

In the meantime, I am off to knit!! Maybe someplace like here!

Half Way

3 of 4 colour choices (cream not pictured)

We are more than half way to our World Bicycle Relief goal! Six wonderful people have come forward and sacrificed a week's coffee budget for the purpose of getting someone in Africa a life changing bicycle. A huge thanks to you 6! Your scarves will be going out this week (the first 3 today, the next three over the next few days as I finish knitting them!) .

One of our donors was able to get her employer to match her $15! So while I don't count that to our goal, it is still fantastic! And even better? Now through Dec 31st, all donations to WBR are being matched dollar for dollar!!! So everything we do goes twice as far!

If you have been thinking of giving, now is the time! $15 donated in honor of "Change Your Life. Ride A Bike!" and verified to our address (cylrab@gmail.com) will not only get you a hand made by me scarf, it will be turned into $30 by WBR and it will help change someone's life in ways we can scarcely imagine.

For more info read here and here.

And So It Begins!

We have 4 contributions in our World Bicycle Relief Giveaway! Thank you, thank you, thank you!! That makes us almost half way to a bicycle in the hands of someone who really, really needs one. For this Holiday season, we can give someone dignity, opportunity and independence!


We only need 6 more $15 contributions to make this happen. Remember, a $15 contribution made in the name of "Change Your Life. Ride A Bike!" and confirmed to our email address, cylrab@gmail.com, will go way farther than that same $15 could ever get you in the coffee shop you would have blown it in anyway! And for those who contribute, we have a gift- a hand knit, and quite useful if I do say so myself, scarf from one of us here at the blog!! I will be posting pictures of the various colours in the morning, so keep a weather eye out! And if you want to give and not get, let me know and we will make sure that scarf gets into the hands of someone who needs it here in San Francisco.

Scarves For Bicycles

So, with much trouble and frustration with my camera (!!!!!!!) I was able to get a couple of shots that are in focus! The WBR Giveaway can begin!

These scarves are large triangular ones that button at the throat. Instead of wrapping around a million times, coming undone, getting caught on the handle bars, these wrap around once and fasten shut. They taper down the front and fully cover your chest (or back if you wear it backwards).

They can be tucked into a jacket with minimal bulk, they keep out he wind and I find they let me shed a layer easily and still stay warm. If worn with arm warmers they make a great way to layer on and off in the crazy micro-climates of places like San Francisco. They come in gray, dark blue, dark red or cream. They are made of a wool/acrylic blend that can be machine washed and dried, they are completely hand made (most likely by me, but it is possible yours could be knit by one of my bikey friends).

All it takes is a $15 donation to World Bicycle Relief! If you make a donation to WBR in the name of "Change Your Life. Ride A Bike!" (and have them email us a confirmation to the blog address cylrab@gmail.com) I will mail you a hand made scarf. Should you chose to donate to WBR and not take a scarf, I will donate that scarf to a local program to help clothe the homeless!

If 10 readers donate $15 each that will be enough money to build one bicycle and train one bicycle mechanic somewhere in the world where that kind of thing can completely change a person's life. So come on people! Let's change someone's life with a bicycle!!! That's what this is all about, after all!