SAN JOSE For Aaliyah Rosete, the VHFlyer 700C bicycle was greater than only a shiny new pair of wheels to cruise round San Jose — it was additionally her first alternative to really feel the enjoyment and freedom of the cool night wind breeze blowing by way of her (helmet) hair.
She by no means realized to experience a motorcycle as a baby. However the 18-year-old shortly received the cling of it, stunning herself by adeptly peddling and overcoming her nerves as she practiced in a hallway at dwelling, bracing the partitions to assist her keep upright.
Aaliyah and her 10-year-old brother, Emiliano, obtained their bikes from Evergreen Valley Excessive Faculty, which partnered with TurningWheels for Kids (TWFK), a nonprofit group that has bought, assembled and glued bikes for youth within the South Bay for twenty years — all freed from cost.
“The folks placing the money and time to construct these bikes give youngsters like me an opportunity to take it round and do what we wish,” Aaliyah mentioned, recalling the vacation spot of her first official bike experience: Baskin Robbins. Rising up, her household couldn’t afford to purchase her a motorcycle, and he or she by no means thought to study as she received older and busier. Now “given the chance to simply respect nature and take within the current second after I go for a experience, I don’t take it as a right. I do know that sounds fairly tacky, nevertheless it’s true.”
The concept began with Sue Runsfold 22 years in the past. Whereas working as a surgical nurse at Santa Clara Valley Medical Heart, Runsfold realized that lots of her sufferers didn’t have a motorcycle at dwelling, in accordance with Tim Schoup, a longtime TWFK volunteer.
“Typically, these youngsters simply wanted to get extra train for well being causes, and so she put two and two collectively,” Shoup mentioned. “Organically, phrase received round that this loopy nurse was elevating cash and constructing bikes, and it grew and grew.”
In 2003, Runsfold got down to present items to underprivileged kids who may not in any other case obtain any current from Santa. She scraped collectively sufficient cash to purchase the primary dozen bikes from Toys R Us — looking for Christmas items that she wasn’t all the time promised as a teen rising up in a low-income family.
Volunteers established TWFK as a year-round nonprofit in 2005, pushed by a mission centered on the array of bodily, psychological and social well being advantages that include a easy job: getting youngsters on bikes. And, donations by way of Want Guide will assist the nonprofit proceed to do exactly that.
“You’ll be able to write a prescription for an embarrassingly massive array of medication and bodily remedy, however you possibly can’t write a prescription for a motorcycle,” Shoup mentioned, explaining the numerous methods they assist enhance a baby’s bodily health, reinforce emotions of inclusion and construct self respect. “When a household is worrying how they’ll spend their cash by the top of the month balancing lease, utilities and automotive funds, they’re having to make laborious monetary selections — questioning if there may be sufficient disposable earnings for a motorcycle.”
Valley Well being Basis, the fundraising arm of Santa Clara County’s hospital system, finally caught wind of this effort and folded TWFK into its bigger philanthropy work.
Schoup mentioned the group is projected to donate its 50,000th bike subsequent 12 months.
Traditionally, TWFK has primarily relied on grassroots fundraising, comparable to particular person on-line donations and corporate-sponsored occasions spearheaded by each small native companies and Silicon Valley tech heavyweights, which might construct between 20 to 100 bikes. TWFK’s marquee occasion is its annual “Big Bike Build,” when volunteers construct 500 bikes on the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds forward of the vacation season.
A $200 donation permits TWFK to cowl the price of a motorcycle, helmet and lock for one baby, whereas company bike builds produced one third of the bikes the nonprofit put out on the road in 2019.
Previous to the pandemic, TWFK donated upwards of 4,000 bikes yearly. That quantity has since plummeted to round 500 — roughly 60% of the entire ask in 2023.
Sunny Ochoa, a VHF senior program officer, mentioned that’s dip due, partly, to lingering results of worldwide funding and provide chain backlogs, in addition to the reluctant return to in-office work and occasions.
“Proper now, we don’t have sufficient bikes to supply for the requests that we’re receiving from the neighborhood,” Ochoa mentioned, noting that VHF additionally oversees comparable county hospital applications comparable to Bike Rx, which helps the Pediatric Wholesome Existence Clinic dole out bicycles to kids with excessive BMIs. “Realizing that we reside in one of the vital costly locations within the U.S., a number of households reside in flats and even simply renting rooms. Giving a child the chance to get exterior and be extra energetic is mostly a nice a part of these applications.”
Ochoa mentioned the bikes TWFK donates additionally assist enhance attendance at school districts like Alum Rock, which doesn’t have a bussing system and confronted faculty closures. Bikes are a less expensive means to assist youngsters entry a type of dependable transportation, with out solely counting on their dad and mom, faculty buses or public transit.
“And if they’ve a motorcycle,” Ochoa mentioned, “that may be a safer means for them to supply their very own transportation.”
TWFK just lately started ordering hundreds of specially-designed VHFlyers instantly from producers in China, that are then distributed to charity-based organizations that present social assist to households throughout the South Bay, together with native colleges, neighborhood facilities and hearth departments. Reasonably than working with teams that may give out bikes by way of a paid lottery or giveaway, the purpose is to get these bikes within the fingers of low-income youth.
Cam Vu, a VHF improvement officer and grant author, mentioned TWFK’s mission is centered across the robust correlation between well being disparities and economically deprived households, together with larger charges of diabetes, weight problems and different well being points that may be mitigated earlier in life.
Whereas TWFK remains to be making an attempt to rebuild this system’s monetary sustainability, particularly as fewer firms have absolutely embraced the return of in-office work and occasions, Vu mentioned one factor hasn’t modified: a motorcycle’s means to open up assets and actions that positively influence a baby’s psychological well being, faculty work, bodily wellbeing and social life.
“This program actually has blossomed and grown over 19 years, as a result of the explanation for a motorcycle saved getting deeper and extra nuanced,” Vu mentioned, explaining how the vast majority of VHFlyers at the moment are going to center and highschool college students commuting between dwelling, class and work. “I believe any of us who’s ridden on a motorcycle is aware of that psychological well being is significantly improved with a bodily outlet – one which’s joyful, gives a way of mastery and provides a sense of freedom and company. That’s the gorgeous a part of this quite simple instrument that is part of so many individuals’s childhoods, so we actually needed to carry that to as many deprived, low earnings kids as doable.”
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THE WISH BOOK SERIES
Want Guide is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit group operated by The Mercury Information. Since 1983, Want Guide has been producing collection of tales throughout the vacation season that spotlight the desires of these in want and invite readers to assist fulfill them.
WISH
Donations to Valley Health Foundation will assist the nonprofit’s TurningWheels for Youngsters program present 200 bikes to underserved kids to advertise cardio train and allow it to proceed its free bike restore clinics in neighborhoods with restricted assets. Objective: $50,000
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