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17.06.2009 Press Release

BIKE AID TO THE PEOPLE OF AFRICA-THE BIKES FOR AFRICA INITIATIVE APPROACH

17.06.2009 LISTEN
By BIKES FOR AFRICA INITIATIVE

Inspite of the fact that they have sent over 1000 bikes to Africa in just four months after their launch in February 2009 and have mobilized another 2100 bikes awaiting for shipment, Sonny Hardy co founder of Bikes for Africa Initiative still sat at home some days unsatisfied. The reason? America has millions of bikes that ended in the landfills each year and Bikes for Africa Initiative wanted to at least rescue 100,000 bikes out of the millions of bikes that landed in our landfills in the US each year to communities across Africa.

The Bikes for Africa Initiative www.bikesforafricainitiative.org a student led project of the Clinton Global Initiative University 2009 seeks to divert thousands of used bicycles per year from the US waste stream, giving them new homes both locally and internationally. Bikes can be transformative in people's lives, providing efficient, economical and sustainable transportation that dramatically increases access to education, resources and economic opportunity.

The project seeks to use bicycle to reach out to health workers coping with the AIDS and Malaria epidemic in Africa and a medium to empower individuals, their families and communities and fulfill basic needs by providing access to economic development, education and health care, the bicycles will offer poor people in African countries the best means to improve their lives, giving them opportunities through cheap, non-polluting transportation to travel to work and school. They can also be adapted to carry goods and passengers giving small scale farmers and traders the opportunity to reach customers further afield.

Bikes for Africa Initiative rescue bikes from our landfills to Africa through our bike collection drive which is a 3-4 hour one time event sponsored by a faith community, school, organization or business to which the public is invited to bring and donate their unwanted but usable bicycles. During bike collection drives, Bikes for Africa Initiative utilizes the services of volunteers to provide satisfying community service opportunities to Americans towards realizing the goal of helping others in poor African nations whiles responding to the call by President Obama for Americans to identify needs in their communities and engage in meaningful service to create change.

The Bikes for Africa Initiative is fully accredited to administer the United States Presidential Voluntary Service Award and volunteers involved in Bikes for Africa Initiative bike collections and other programs can be certified for the bronze, silver, gold or lifetime Presidential Service Award and a personalized certificate of participation signed by President Barack Obama.

It doesn't matter who you are or where you're from you just need to realize there's more to life than sitting on a sofa watching life pass you buy. You can involve in bike collection efforts and other voluntary services to earn a Presidential Voluntary Service Award.

By simply organizing a bike collection drive at your school and surrounding area through the Bikes For Africa Initiative/Presidential Voluntary Service Award Community Service Project you can make a real difference to the lives of less privileged people in Africa, meet some great people, enjoy yourself and get a Presidential Voluntary Service Award and certificate signed by the US President Barack Obama.

If you like your school to run the Bike Collection Drive please contact us on [email protected] or 202 684 6544 and we will send you information pack. The project has the full approval of the Presidential Voluntary Service Award Scheme and can be used in Gold, Silver and Bronze schemes and can also be used just as a local school community service project, graduating class project or perhaps within international Baccalaureate and State or Federal Curriculum community requirements.

If your organization, church, mosque or business will like to donate to assist our cause or like to organize bike collection drive for our benefit you can also get in touch.

For African based organizations that will need a container of bikes you can also get in touch with us www.bikesforafricainitiative.org

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