Trips for Kids and their ‘Red Team’ of supporters won the 2010 Clif Bar 2 Mile Challenge, a nationwide, six-month long campaign to fight climate change by encouraging people to ride a bike instead of driving a car for trips of two miles or less.
Friendly competition among cyclists taking the Clif Bar 2 Mile Challenge resulted in a $25,000 victors grant to Trips for Kids. The victors grant followed three $25,000 awards that Clif Bar initially made to each of the three non-profits — Alliance for Biking and Walking, Alliance for Climate Education (ACE) and Trips for Kids — as beneficiaries of the 2010 Clif Bar 2 Mile Challenge.
Trips for Kids has earmarked a portion of the awarded funds to go to chapters in good standing to purchase needed equipment, create information sharing and program materials. A portion of the funds will also be used to create new TFK chapters.
The 501c3 non-profit program has 69 chapters throughout the US, Canada and Israel that works to introduce at-risk youth to mountain biking and offers them the chance to earn their own bike, through their Earn-a-Bike program. The organization also offers job training programs that teach kids how to build and maintain bicycles. Trips for Kids has reached 60,000 kids through their programs to date.
Trips for Kids ‘Red Team’ winning team included 1,994 people, who rode an impressive 166,298 miles and saved 152,994 pounds of carbon dioxide by using their bikes instead of a car. Participants in the 2 Mile Challenge were allowed to select one of the three non-profits to assign their contribution to over the course of the challenge; those selecting Trips for Kids were put on the 'Red Team'.
"The Clif Bar 2 Mile Challenge really motivated our community to get on their bikes to fight climate change,” said Marilyn Price, Trips for Kids executive director. " I am particularly proud of our Re-Cyclery staff, including 3 of our staff who were the top three high scorers on our team.
“We have had a longstanding relationship with Clif Bar,” Price told BikeRadar. “They support our national program quite generously; we took 9,500 kids on mountain bikes last year and they have given bars to everyone of the chapters so every kid can have one of their bars on their ride.”
It’s worth noting that some of these kids may not have been able to afford a healthy lunch or lunch at all pre-ride, which makes Clif Bar’s contribution that much more important to these children.
While the 2010 Clif Bar 2 Mile Challenge team competition concluded with Trips for Kids' victory, it’s slated to return in April 2011.
2milechallenge.com remains active for people who to want to continue or join, log bike miles and challenge friends to ride their bikes for short trips two miles or less.
For more information about TFK and to donate to the organization, please visit www.tripsforkids.org
