I'm
really happy to announce that Seattle Children's Hospital signed on
today as a sponsor for the Bike to School program and will be hosting
our BTS month wrap-up party on Sat, June 7 as part of the Livable
Streets Initiative celebration. ~Shannon
Dear Bike to School Leaders,
May
is approaching, and this means that plans are in motion at Cascade
Bicycle Club to support your efforts in getting kids biking to school
around the region. Our theme for
Bike to School
month is "Wheels in Motion" which highlights the connection between
being healthy & active and academic achievement. When kids bike to
school, they arrive awake and ready to learn.
You
are receiving this email because you have been associated with Bike to
School efforts at your school. Please let us know if there is a
different
or an additional contact that we should add to our list. We hope that
you will continue to be involved in our efforts to promote active
transportation, as we have a number of exciting
development for this year's program.
*This
year, we are tracking the number of minutes commuting to school (vs.
miles or roundtrips), which levels the playing field a bit and is in
alignment with how health organizations convey exercise
recommendations. Do you think we can exceed a million minutes in motion
this year? We'd like to try!
*We
have 2 sponsors so far for Bike to School month (Raleigh and Clif
Kids), so the incentives are bigger and better this year. We are
focused on keeping kids safe and active and will be offering the
following prizes:
GRAND
PRIZE: For the school that has the most collective minutes bike
commuting during the month of May, you will receive a new bike from
Raleigh. We will leave it to the winning school to determine the best
way to award the bike (most individual minutes, raffle, etc.)
--Bicycle LED light for kids biking up to 240 minutes during the month of May
--Wheels in Motion frisbee for kids biking more than 240 minutes during the month of May
--High-quality reflective stickers for helmets or bike frames for all kids who bike on Bike to School Day (May 7th)
*For those of you in K-8 schools, not only have we created a separate category for you to compete in, but we
are also introducing a new middle school team challenge in which the team
with the most minutes of bike commuting to school will win an overnight
bike trip with Cascade staff and instructors.
*Winners will be recognized at an awards ceremony in early June.
We are still curating the webpage with additional resources for elementary students, but you can find information about Bike
to School month
here.
What's
new for Bike to School coordinators? Cascade is assembling kits for
you which will contain a banner to be used for recruitment, posters,
stickers, some healthy, non-perishable snacks, and more.
Action items:
1. Let us know if your school will be involved in
promoting Bike to School this year by responding to this email.
2. Contact Khatsini Simani at
khat...@cascadebicycleclub.org
to schedule a time to pick up your Bike to School leader kit (available early April).
We
look forward to working with you to get our elementary school
students excited about bike commuting! We're here to help!
Thanks, Shannon