POLAR BIKE PROJECT – DONATIONS WELCOME!

[Alan]

Thanks to fellow Farm Team rider, Roy Hourston for alerting us to this project. Seems like a worthy cause.

FYI, this came through my work email. Contact Michael directly if you're interested. He is at the Coast Guard base by Ogden Point at 21 Huron Street, right next to the main base at 25 Huron Street.

Pictured below is the vessel your bike donation could ride on.


POLAR BIKE PROJECT – DONATIONS WELCOME!

Do you have a gently used children’s bicycle sitting around your garage that you might like to donate?
For the second year in a row, an employee-driven charitable campaign will see bicycles delivered to children in an isolated community in the Arctic. This year, donated bicycles will be delivered to children in Taloyoak in Nunavut Territory during an annual CCGS Sir Wilfred Laurier trip conducting ice breaking and aids to navigation operations near northern communities. And you could help!

The Polar Bike Project was originally started by Alison Harper, a woman who moved to Kugluktuk with her husband several years ago. Being avid mountain bikers, they took their own bikes with them and were struck by the lack of bicycles in the town, as well as the awe with which the local kids viewed their bicycles and the big tires! The Polar Bike Project is about getting donated bikes to children in the western and central Arctic who otherwise would have no way of getting access to a bike.

Last year, Michael Crummy of the CCG heard about the project on CBC and realized that Coast Guard sails right past the area every year. He thought: “Why not try to get a few bikes together and send them up to the town on the Laurier”? In the space of less than 10 days, he had pulled together 13 donated bicycles along with a bunch of spare parts from CCG Victoria base staff and families. This year, he is hoping the Laurier can deliver 30 to 35 bikes to the small town of Taloyoak.

CCG is reaching out to DFO staff on Vancouver Island who may be interested in donating a bike for a good cause. (DFO staff located elsewhere may also donate if the bikes can get to CCG Victoria base.) All bikes need to be in good working condition as they will be sent to a very remote locale with no repair facilities.
If you have a children’s bicycle or biking equipment (tire pump, spare parts, helmets, etc.) that you would be willing to donate, please contact:

Michael Crummy
CCG Victoria base
Michael.Crummy@dfo-mpo.gc.ca
250-480-2733
Deadline for donations is June 27, as the ship is set to sail at the beginning of July.