mayer@cascade.ARPA (Niels Mayer) (03/07/86)
BIKE-AID '86 TO PROMOTE WORLD DEVELOPMENT
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The Overseas Development Network, (ODN) a national student group involved in
international development issues, is currently organizing a cross-country
bicycle trip this summer to increase awareness of world poverty and raise
money for self-help projects overseas and in the United-States.
The organizers hope to involve over 10,000 bicyclists in the ride, raising
1 million dollars for self-help projects in Africa, Asia, Latin-America, and
Appalachia, and for fellowships for students from these areas.
Called Bike-Aid '86, the cross country trek will begin on June 16 as
groups depart from four West coast cities -- Seattle, Portland, San
Francisco, and Los Angeles / San Diego -- and from Houston and Tampa on July
12. Participants can ride for the entire 3,300 miles or for a shorter
segment (eg. a portion of the country, or even a day-ride).
All the groups will cross the country, meet with people in local communities
along the way, give informal presentations on development, and collect
pledges as they go. The groups will meet in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 5, and
finish at the United Nations in New York on Aug. 11 with a closing ceremony
hosted by James Grant, director of UNICEF.
Patrons for Bike-Aid '86 include Sentators Bill Bradley and Edward Kennedy,
Robert Rodale, publisher of _Bicycling_ and _Runner's_World_ magazines;
Donald Kennedy, president of Stanford University; Rep. Micky Leland,
chairman of the House Select Committee on Hunger; Stanford Alumnus Eric
Heiden (bike-racer and five time Olympic gold-medalist in speed-skating);
Greg Lemond and Rebecca Twigg, America's premier bike racers; and Grant.
Congressman Leland notes that "Bike-Aid will increase public attention and
support for the plight of those who suffer from hunger throughout the
world... many lives have been saved. Now the task is to give the survivors
the opportunity to live productively."
According to John Shattuck, vice president of Harvard, "The Overseas
Development Network is an extraordinary student organization... in an era
when student activism is hard to find, ODN is inspiring in its seriousness,
effectiveness, and sophistication."
ODN is a national consortium of over 40 campus chapters founded in 1983 by
Nazir and Kamal Ahmad, two brothers from Bangladesh who saw the potential of
national student organization committed to constructive approaches toward
ending world poverty.
Nazir is a graduate student in development economics at Stanford University;
he is currently writing an action-information handbook on hunger to be
published by Harper & Row. Kamal is a junior at Harvard, is traveling in
Africa and Asia looking for volunteer opportunities for American students.
Some 100 volunteers across the country are helping to carry out Bike-Aid
'86. Shaun Skelton, a graduate student at Stanford, is national coordinator
for the venture. He is an experienced bicyclist and founder of the Stanford
Volunteer network, a community service center.
For more information, write or call: [please don't reply to me for info!!]
Shaun Skelton
Bike-Aid '86
P.O. Box 2306
Stanford, CA 94305.
(415)497-8559
(415)725-2869.
Niels Mayer
Center for Integrated Systems, Stanford University
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