Thank you for riding with us this year. Through all the difficulties of 2020, biking has been a balm for many of us. Relieving stress with physical activity, safely enjoying the (outdoor & distanced) company of riding companions, just getting where we need to go — more people than ever before are enjoying the benefits of biking in Greater New Orleans.
This December 1st, on Giving Tuesday, we’re launching “Giving Forward”, Bike Easy’s year-end fundraising campaign, with a goal of raising $25,000. We’ll be celebrating all that biking has provided in this tough year, and we’ll be asking you to give forward so that we can continue helping people tap into the joy and freedom of biking.
I’m so grateful for the hard work of Bike Easy’s staff, board, volunteers, and partners to shift our approach to supporting the community, especially the record number of those just discovering or rediscovering biking. Throughout the month of December, we’ll be sharing information on how your donations enable our Education, Advocacy, and Community programming to give forward.
During the Giving Forward year-end fundraising campaign, we’ll be talking about the creative, successful solutions we’ve developed to safely deliver our in-demand programming.
- Our bike safety instructors honed their digital teaching and workshop management skills, like so many other educators.
- While riding with hundreds of fellow Bike Easy supporters in the annual Bicycle Second Line wasn’t in the cards this year, it was fun to see so many quaranteams and individuals take to the streets for our first-ever Bicycle Scavenger Hunt.
- We launched the new #BikeMatch program to connect people with bikes to donate to people who needed them, supporting our community with a mutual aid effort to provide people with a transportation option.
- We’re engaging thousands of people, every month, to support the rapid expansion of the connected and protected bikeway network in New Orleans by attending virtual meetings and signing petitions of support – and the City is meeting this moment of unprecedented numbers of people biking by delivering protected bike lanes!
When you donate to Bike Easy, we give it forward to the community. The bicycle is a tool to improve people’s health and well-being, and our work is to ensure everyone in the region has access to this incredible tool. As we look ahead to another uncertain year, your financial support is more important than ever for making biking easy, safe and fun in Greater New Orleans
Along with all the changes due to the pandemic, Bike Easy has also felt the racial reckoning that is occurring in America. We are proud to stand in solidarity with everyone calling for racial justice, and we recognize that all transportation advocates have a big role to play in promoting racial equity and mobility justice. Bike Easy’s board and staff have been working to develop an equity framework and values statement that will facilitate deep inclusion of equity goals and metrics throughout all areas of our next strategic plan. I’m excited to share more details at the upcoming Membership Meeting!
Everyone deserves the freedom and confidence that comes with riding a bicycle. Greater New Orleans is a great place to ride, and with your support, we’re making it even better. This December, when you participate in our year-end fundraising campaign, you’ll be keeping Bike Easy rolling so we can keep “Giving Forward”.
Click here to donate to Bike Easy today.
-Dan Favre, Executive Director
