Load bikes for New Orleans

BIKES TO NEW ORLEANS
Saturday, March 4th, 11am - 2pm
Sunday, March 5th, 10:30am - 3:30pm

*NOTE: This event does NOT happen at Bikes Not Bombs. We will be loading from Mississippi's Restaurant, 103 Terrace St. in Roxbury. Directions below.

We need volunteers to help us load up nearly 500 bikes and parts, going to a community-based bicycle organization in New Orleans called Plan B. Plan B assembles and distributes bikes at greatly subsidized costs. See their website at http://planb.bikeproject.org for more information.

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have displaced hundreds of thousands of families that are now struggling with transportation issues in their new surroundings. Over 130,000 lost their homes in New Orleans alone. Bicycles can provide mobility at super low costs, and the independence people will need to help rebuild their lives. We are also talking with community groups in Mississippi to consider the possibility of eventually reaching other areas of the Gulf Coast with more shipments.

An interesting aspect of this shipment is that 3 of the bikes that BNB is sending are donations to the "PEPY Hurricane Relief Ride," which will happen May 23rd - May 30th. The ride is raising money to be donated to the YMCA of Greater New Orleans, and is also meant for riders to learn about the impact of the hurricanes on the environment. The ride starts in Vinton, LA, taking the Creole Nature Trail south, then following the coast up to Abbeville. These areas were some of the hardest hit by Rita, and only recently have many of the residents here been allowed home. The riders then cycle to Franklin, Monroe City, Houma and up to New Orleans. There are still spaces for a few more riders to join in. Interested? Email ymcaride@pepyride.org and see www.pepyride.org/hurricane.html for more info. These same organizers have just finished a ride across Cambodia to raise money to build a school (with a large Bikes Not Bombs logo emblazoned across their jerseys) and may be planning more rides. More info at www.pepyride.org.

DIRECTIONS
Mississippi's Restaurant is at 103 Terrace St in Roxbury, a block from the Roxbury Crossing T stop on the Orange Line. You may remember the location from the Bike-A-Thon after-party. Online directions: www.mississippis.com/getpage.php?contact
Directions from BNB: get back on Columbus Ave. heading into town. Pass the Jackson Square T stop, pass Heath St, and take your next left onto New Cedar. It ends in one block at Terrace St, turn right, and you'll see Mississippi's on the left! Thanks again to Jim Lewis and Mississippi's Restaurant for renting us bike storage space and allowing this loading to happen there.