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1. August 2nd Open House & Picnic at King Farm 2. Accomplishments to date 3. Women Prisoners Support Organisation - summary report
1. Saturday August 2nd Open House & Picnic at King Farm Mark your calendars! On Saturday, August 2, from 11 am - 3 pm, Bikes for the World will host a picnic to thank our volunteers, donors, representatives of collection sponsors, and neighbors for their support. Hamburgers, hot dogs, drinks, and more will be supplied. The historic King Farm formerly housed Thompson's Dairy, one of lower Montgomery County's last active milk providers. Bikes for the World is privileged to occupy an enormous hay shed and adjacent cottage, which house the Rockville Youth Bike Project; the hay shed also serves as a storage and shipping site for the international program. Adjacent to the RYBP facilities are a picnic shelter, community garden, milking barns, and the farmhouse itself. This is a great opportunity to see an interesting piece of Maryland architectural history, as well as meet our community and catch up with Bikes for the World activities. The King Farm Farmstead is located off Rt 355 (Frederick Rd), Rockville MD, opposite the residental entrance to the Shady Grove Waste transfer Station. To get to our part of the Farmstead, enter from behind (the west side, away from Rt 355)-the farm gate at the intersection of Piccard and Grand Champion Drives. Directions from I-270: Take Shady Grove Rd two lights east to Gaither Rd; turn RIGHT (south) on Gaither to the first light at Piccard Dr; turn LEFT (east) onto Piccard and go to the end of the street, where you will see a farm gate. Park and walk in. (Note: You will be able to see the farm silos from Gaither Rd.) 2. Recent Accomplishments This past weekend, a dozen Montgomery County middle and high school students, assisted by RYBP director Mike McMillion, BfW director Keith Oberg, and BfW volunteers Craig Annear, Tom Calhoun, and Nick Griffin, loaded 466 bicycles into a container bound for Goodwill Panama. This is Goodwill Panama's third shipment of the year, and has provided steady support as the organization transitions to a new executive director following the retirement of former-director Sheila Sanchez, who left in February. Earlier in the week, BfW also assisted Art for Humanity, a program donating household goods to low-income families in Honduras, by supplying and loading 37 children's and adult bikes into Art for Humanity's container. Art for Humanity regularly ships to Honduras, staging its shipments at Bikes for the World's shipping facilities in the metropolitan DC region. With these shipments and this coming week's shipment to Ghana, Bikes for the World will have shipped more than 6,500 bikes year-to-date, making it more than likely that we will set a new annual mark in 2008. Thank you for your support. 3. Women Prisoners Support Organisation - Summary Report One of Bikes for the World's newest overseas partners-the Women Prisoners Support Organisation-is also one of the most exciting, and increasingly shows evidence of significant impact. Just arriving yesterday is a formal report on the outcome of our first shipment-made August 2007 and arriving just before Christmas. Based on informal reports, Bikes for the World decided to send a second shipment, and on May 31, in cooperation with the Calvert County (MD) Public Schools, collected and loaded 468 bikes in a second shipment. Most bikes benefited women ex-prisoners and their families. Following are two individual stories illustrating the impact. For a copy of the pdf file containing the full report, with several photos, write Keith at info at bikesfortheworld.org, or (wait a week!) visit our website. |
