Trips for KidsProgram Report 2013

Community Bicycle Center11/25/2013

After/Out of School Bike Repair

The Community Bicycle Center’s educational bike shop opened every weekday afternoon for children to learn life skills through repairing and maintaining bicycles. Three hundred and eighteen youth worked on their own bikes, repaired and earned bikes, reconditioned bikes for community outreach projects, and maintained our instructional bicycle fleet during 3,198 participant days.

Children earned 150 bikes in addition to repairing their own bikes and completing numerous bike safety inspections. Youth learned life skills including shared shop space etiquette, observational and problem solving skills, conflict resolution skills, goal persistence, patience, personal learning styles, and the meaning of service above self. Participants experienced commitment, learned to advocate for themselves, and developed relationship and team building skills. As part of our bicycle safety education contract with the Maine Department of Transportation, the CBC provided 133 free bike helmets.

Additionally, CBC had support from 89 direct service volunteers. Twenty-one youth earned their mandated community service hours working in the CBC shop and assisting during bike rides.

Community Outreach ProjectsWith support from the Biddeford Police Department, Biddeford School

Department, and the Coastal Healthy Communities Coalition the CBC organized a city wide Walk to School event for students at the Biddeford Primary, Intermediate, and Middle Schools. This year the John F. Kennedy Kindergarten Center also participated. Over 1,100 students participated in the event.

Also in 2013, the CBC participated in family fun nights at Biddeford Primary School, a vehicle fair at the Sweetser School, Biddeford’s annual Bacon Street Festival, and the Maine Bike Rally. We also presented to the students at the Kennebunk Consolidated School, and the BLAST afterschool program at Biddeford Intermediate School.

Additionally, we donated bikes to the Center for Cultural Exchange program for their foreign exchange students, organized an Eastern Trail ride for Sacopee Valley High School students and staff, and completed bike and helmet safety checks for the Kennebunkport Recreation Department.

Charity Cycling Team

Our youth/adult Charity Cycling Team trained, fundraised, and cycled the 180-mile, three-day Trek Across Maine for the American Lung Association of the Northeast. Our team members raised $16,098 in support of the ALA-of the Northeast healthy lung initiatives. Twenty-six team members completed the Trek eight of whom were youth who learned healthy living habits, group cycling skills, bike maintenance, and fundraising concepts. Mutually meaningful youth/adult relationships were developed through the camaraderie of our diverse team. In 2013, our team completed its fourteenth season of cycling in the Trek Across Maine and has raised over $231,514 for the American Lung Association of Maine over 14 years.

Cycling Adventures

During the summer kids gathered at the CBC shop three times each week to learn safe cycling skills on group road, mountain, and tandem bike rides. They explored Biddeford and surrounding communities with trips to places with fun destinations - swimming, ice cream, and mud. Children learned how to shift gears, apply the Rules of the Road, and safe group cycling habits. During 2012, 54 youth pedaled a combined 8,084 miles. Additionally, a number of older CBC youth earned their tandem (two-person bike) captains license which allowed CBC rides to go further and faster than past years.

During the spring and summer riding season the CBC embarked on three overnight bicycling trips including a trip to Camp Ketcha in Scarborough and two trips to the Kennebunk Conservation Land Trust (KCLT). Our trip to Camp Ketcha brought seven youth on a 64 mile roundtrip adventure. While at Camp Ketcha we played disc golf, hiked around the Scarborough Marsh, and used their low-ropes course for some team building activities.

In June and August, and in collaboration with Seacoast (New Hampshire) Youth Services (SYS), the CBC brought 13CBC youth and eight SYS youth on a three-day two-

night camping adventure. During the trip youth experienced camping on Vaughn Island, rowing around Cape Porpoise, and mountain biking in the Smith Preserve of the KCLT.

Girls’ Empowerment GroupDuring the summer and shoulder seasons, girls embarked on weekly road or

mountain bike rides ranging from five-25 miles making stops at Blandings Park Wildlife Sanctuary, local swimming holes, and volunteers homes for henna tattooing. Overall, in 2013, 21 girls rode 690miles cumulatively.

Bike Monkeys

Ten youth (six male, four female) completed our signature curriculum-based, bicycle repair-training program, mentored by 12 dedicated volunteer mentors. The CBC offered a co-ed program as well as a Girls Only program in 2013. A lead mechanic and graduated Bike Monkeys mechanic led each session. During each youth’s commitment, they learn bicycle repair skills, shop maintenance and safety habits, and community service concepts. Youth that participated during 2013 have already begun to give back to the CBC through volunteering during open shop hours and our Bike Doctor program.