Thursday, January 31, 2008

Awesome Tool Donation from Bike n Hike Supports BTR bike shop

A big THANK YOU to Jens Schrader and Bike n Hike owner, and 2007 BTA Alice Awards winner, Kevin Chudy for their support of Bikes To Rwanda!

Bike n Hike service manager Jens Schrader had a job to do, it was time to update the service center at their downtown Portland store. Jens, a local cross racer and long-time bike mechanic in Portland had a thought... "I should do something with these tools, maybe I'll donate them to Bikes To Rwanda to help stock one of the new bike shops they're building in 2008." Well, Jens had great timing. Those tools, which we picked up earlier in the week are now on their way Rwanda to be a part of BTR's newest bike shop at the Musasa co-op.

Thanksgiving coffee is on their way to Africa for a source visit, and eventually they will be in Rwanda to begin the process of building the bike shop they've been fundraising for over the past month. More on that soon.

It's synergies like these that support Bikes To Rwanda's mission. We feel that the support and cooperation of our local and national partners are what will make BTR successful long into the future.

If you are a bike shop employee or owner in Portland or the continental U.S. and are interested in helping Bikes To Rwanda in this way please contact us at: info@bikestorwanda.com and write "Tools" in the Subject line.

Cheers,
-BTR

BTR Bike Shop, NEW Photos














Here are a couple of photos from Tim Schilling of the Karaba co-op bike shop, up and running. Thanks Tim.

Bikes To Rwanda at the NAHBS!














Come by the Ira Ryan Cycles booth at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show in Portland, OR the weekend of February 9-10 and chat up BTR's executive director Clara Seasholtz or technical director Ira Ryan himself! Ira will have a number of amazing new bikes to show and will be taking orders as well. He will also be selling his awesome hand-sewn(Caroline aka "Little Package") , hand-screened hats(Ira), and NEW t-shirts. If you want a little info on BTR we'll have some literature on hand as well as t-shirts, stickers and buttons...and maybe even some cookies!
Hope to see you THERE!
xoxo,
BTR