Bicycle and Book Collaboration to Support Love of Reading

Ready to deliver books on Monday as part of Ride for Reading program in Ft. Collins.

Fort Collins, Colorado – Fourteen local, national and international organizations are coming together to encourage children to read and value bicycling.

In celebration of National Bike to School Week, over 60 bicyclists – including local children’s author Natasha Wing – will pedal more than 1,500 books to students at Harris Bilingual School and Laurel School of Arts and Technology. The bicyclists, New Belgium Brewing Employees, OtterBox Employee Volunteers, Bicycle Ambassadors, Bicycle Pedestrian Education Coalition, Safe Routes to Schools Representatives, and other bicycling advocates are supporting the work of Ride for Reading, a not-for-profit organization with a mission to promote literacy and healthy living through the distribution of books via bicycle to children in low-income neighborhoods.

Local thrift and used book stores – EcoThrift, Book Lovers, Brand Spanking Used – have all donated gently used books for distribution. Those books will be blended with books from the online book seller, Better World Books and books donated by Clothes Pony. In addition, New Belgium Brewing is hosting a Book Drive, offering a tasting room discount to any visitors who donate books. Books that are not given during this delivery will be held for a delivery in the fall.

Safe Routes to School coordinator, Nancy Nichols, has helped determine the safest routes for the delivery cyclists. With its mission to make school routes safe for children when walking and bicycling to school, Safe Routes to School will attend the deliveries and give an informational bookmark to each student.

Ridekick Co-owner, Dee Wanger, participated in Ride for Reading delivery rides in 2011, 2012, and 2013 at the national bicycle trade show, Interbike. A former elementary school teacher, she was inspired by the experience and offered to be the Northern Colorado program coordinator for Ride for Reading deliveries. A delivery of over 500 books was made to Putnam School in 2013.

“This is such an exciting collaborative effort!” Wanger said. “It’s bringing together people who like to bicycle and want it to be safe for everyone, people who like to read, people who are donating their books and their time…all for the purpose of instilling and enabling a love of bicycling and reading in children.”

And, as excellent teachers will do, special activities around reading and bicycling are planned throughout the day and week for students at these schools. What lucky kids!

For other inquiries, please contact Dee Wanger, Co-owner at info@ridekick.com or 877-974- 4440, ext 1.

Website Address: www.ridekick.com

Special thanks to these organizations:

Ride for Reading
Better World Books
New Belgium Brewing
OtterBox
Ridekick International
Harris Bilingual
Laurel School of Arts and Technology
Safe Routes to Schools
Bicycle Ambassadors
Clothes Pony
EcoThrift
Book Lovers Books
Brand Spanking Used
Bicycle Pedestrian Education Coalition

 

Filed under: Natasha Wing Tagged: bike events, bikes, books for kids, children's books, Dee Wagner, Fort Collins, Harris Bilingual School, New Belgium Brewery, Ride for Reading