NATIONAL NEWS
April 21, 2010
Power Wheels
Dan Austin, cofounder of 88Bikes, delivers bicycles and hope to kids in need
Writer and filmmaker Dan Austin is saving the world, one bike at a time. In 2006, Austin, along with his brother Jared and their friend Nick Arauz, started an organization called 88Bikes. It's a non-profit group that delivers bicycles to kids in need around the globe. In less than four years, the group has given away nearly 800 bikes in seven different countries. And they're not done yet. In fact, they're just getting started.
88 Bikes
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What difference can a single bicycle make? A big one, says Austin. Many of the children who receive a set of wheels from 88Bikes live in hard-to-reach rural areas and in orphanages. Having a bike gives the kids a safe and quick way to get to school. In turn, they end up spending less time traveling to school and more time in the classroom, learning.
Owning a bike can also equal freedom for a young person, Austin explains. "The happiness and [independence] that a bike can bring are just as important as anything," Austin told TFK. "You get on a bike and you ride and you can lose yourself. You can have an adventure. It's an empowering thing."
The Very BeginningThe idea for 88Bikes began as just another cross-country outing for Austin and his brother. At the time, Jared, who is a pediatrician, was planning to go to Cambodia to volunteer at a children's hospital. Austin was also heading to Southeast Asia. They ended up going to Cambodia together and made a cycling trip out of it too.
After the ride, the brothers found an orphanage in the city of Phnom Penh to give away their bikes to. "But then we realized there were 88 kids at the orphanage," Austin says. "We didn't want the other 86 kids to feel left out."
So, they asked Arauz to set up a website for donations and reached out to their friends and family to help. Four days later, there was enough money to buy more than enough bicycles. Seeing the joy on the kids' faces as the bikes arrived was "pretty amazing," recalls Austin. "To be in that courtyard with those kids just going crazy—it underscored how powerful a bike can be, and how much good it can do."
Making ConnectionsEach sponsorship costs about $88. The bicycles are purchased from bike merchants in the country. This makes it easier to find replacement parts if a bike needs to be repaired later on. It also helps the local economy. Volunteers are sent back to the countries every now and then to check up on the kids and to do maintenance. Austin is also working to set up more permanent 88Bikes repair shops.
Along with their bikes, all of the children receive helmets, bike locks and shoes. They also receive photos of the people who made the donations. "We want them to know that there is somebody across the ocean that cares enough about them to give them a bike," Austin says. A world map is printed on the back of the photo so that the kids can see where the donors live. The donors also receive pictures of the kids and their new bikes. Austin calls these captured moments the "moment of happy."
Next up is the Villages project, which focuses on rural sites in Afghanistan, Nicaragua and Tanzania, and on American Indian reservations in the United States. The initial goal is to raise enough funds to purchase 500 bikes or more by this summer. As of April 26, they had already received enough donations for 599 bikes.
Riding Full CircleRecently, the brothers returned to the orphanage in Cambodia to take the kids on a 34-mile bike ride through the countryside. For some of the children, it was a chance to get out of the city for the first time. "They were smiling up to the very end of the ride," Austin says. He hopes to continue organizing these bike trips at every site.
"We never set out to create a [non-profit group]. We just wanted to go on a bike ride!" Austin explains. "The kids were just so happy when we gave them the bikes that we kept doing it. Increasing happiness in the world is our driving force."
To learn more about 88Bikes, visit 88bikes.org.
