Community Light Fundraiser & Night Ride 7 pm September 16

[Kelley Wegeng]

The Bike Project is raising funds to give away lights to refugees and bike commuters in areas underserved by campus light distributions. You can donate here through September 23rd. 

As part of that fundraiser, in conjunction with the CU Astronomical Society, we present CIFAR: Community Illumination Fundraiser Awareness Ride on Friday, September 16th.

We'll gather at 7 at TBP in Urbana and leave by 7:30 to ride the 11 miles out to the CUAS dark site, where they will give us a tour of their facility, and, weather-permitting, show us some planets and possibly other celestial features using their telescopes. The 11 mile return will be after dark, so a waiver and working lights will be required. 

The ride is only open to TBP members and first-time guests. Those who can't ride are still encouraged to donate. No donation is required to ride, and no rider will be left behind. 

Please RSVP for the ride on Facebook here so that we can have a rough idea of numbers, and please tell your friends about the fundraising campaign! 

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As some of you know, I've been volunteering on Sundays at The Bike Project since just a few days after I heard that they were having trouble finding enough staff to keep open hours during the pandemic. With my mom gone and nobody else high-risk in my circle, I concluded that I would be willing to accept that risk if it meant that people who needed help fixing their bikes so they could get to work would be able to do so. I'm still not a great mechanic (although I've learned a lot at TBP thanks to others there who are), but even what I know is helpful for someone who needs to fix a flat or replace a chain, and two bikes that I built up from donated parts are being used out there by people who needed them. 

We encounter lots of folks who don't have much money but who use bikes out of necessity every day. We also know from driving at night that there are lots of cyclists who don't have working lights on their bikes. This fundraiser is what is probably only the very beginning of trying to make sure that folks riding bikes here, regardless of income-level, can commute safely. The lights we're purchasing are about $6 a set for us to purchase in bulk as a non-profit, but would be around $15 if sold retail, and while they will help a cyclist be visible to traffic, they still aren't going to be great lights for those cyclists to navigate by in areas of town such as mine without many streetlights. They're what we can do for now.

I mention this because I'm probably going to be active in our community trying to raise funds to help protect cyclists for years to come. I'm asking for you to chip in now, and I'll probably also ask you to chip in later. Even just donating enough for just one set of lights makes one more cyclist safer.

A flyer is attached which you can print and display if you feel so inclined. 

Kelley