The Katrina Bikes Partnership Project in Seattle closed the second weekend of its bicycle collection drive at Magnuson Park with a total 834 bikes last Sunday.
The bikes, helmets and other gear donated by Seattle area cyclists is on its way to Baton Rouge, where a delivery of bicycles from Boulder already has arrived, reports the Baton Rouge Advocate.
The bikes will be given to college students and residents of FEMA trailer parks living in the Baton Rouge area who were displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Bike shop employees who are looking over the bicycles before they're handed out in Baton Rouge note the recipients will get a lot of use out of the bicycles. “They're not junk,” one said.
The Seattle bike project was orchestrated by Seattle cyclist Beryl Fernandes and Louisiana hurricane evacuee Jerome Ringo, chairman of the National Wildlife Federation. The Seattle Bicycle Touring Club helped organize the local effort. Two hundred people volunteered in Seattle collection, including 33 bike mechanics.
The volunteers collected, repaired and washed the bikes as they arrived over the past two weekends. They also picked up bicycles from elderly donors and attached notes from elementary school children, according to a press release.
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