Show #379 – December 16, 2017

Guests: Leah Missbach Day; Aimee Ross; Patrick Brady

Twas the week before Christmas and there is snow on the ground here in NE Ohio.

But, we’ll bring some conversations to warm the heart as we look at our last “gift giving” show for the season.

My first guest is the co-founder of World Bicycle Relief, Leah Missbach Day. When Leah and her husband F.K. learned of the devastating tsunami in 2005, they flew to Indonesia to see how they could help. Out of that trip, World Bicycle Relief was founded and now, 12 years later, the organization is approaching 400,000 bicycles on the ground and working in a variety of African and Indonesian countries.

Leah gives us some insight into who needs these bicycles and how they help to keep people healthy, educate the young girls and women who receive a bike, and keep businesses thriving.

Then, IMBA‘s director of brand development Aimee Ross tells us about the “Dig In” campaign that is giving 68 mountain bike projects a lifeline in the form of grants and assistance. Aimee takes us back to the beginning of the mountain bike era and propels us forward explaining how IMBA helps facilitate projects all over the U.S. with its local chapters and millions of volunteers hours.

Lastly, Red Kite Prayer’s Patrick Brady gives us his first-hand insight into the fires that have been and are still devastating California. Evacuated from his home for almost two weeks, Patrick tells us about the scores of boxes that have arrived to help local riders who lost everything to the fires as well as what the Sonoma Pride campaign is doing to get peoples’ lives back on track.

If you are ready to write those year-end giving checks, perhaps one of more of these three conversations will help you make up your mind.

Happy holidays from The Outspoken Cyclist! And, here’s to a peaceful, healthy, and happy 2018!