November 13/12 12:02 pm - Support Sprockids

Posted by Editoress on 11/13/12
 

Doug Detwiller, the founder of the Sprockids program, is asking for the help of the cycling community to access funds for mountain biking programs they want to provide in their Aboriginal Youth Mountain Biking Initiative. Below is Doug's request and information on voting. Please take the time to vote.

Once again I am asking for your votes. Our Aboriginal Youth Mountain Biking Initiative received over 500 votes and nearly 150 supporters! Thank you so much for all your assistance and efforts. Unfortunately, this was not enough to secure us a spot in the semi-finals. The good news is that there is another qualifying round and we are going to keep trying.

The next round begins this Monday, November 12th, and goes for 15 days. Please remember you can Vote EVERYDAY for 15 Days!! I know it is a bit of a pain, but if you can just get in the habit of voting first thing after you open up your computer each day it might not seem so onerous. All of your votes are really important and might just push us over the top.

Last weekend, Patrick Lucas, Paul Lucas, Angus Evans and Dave Jakubia(- two experienced bike park designers and builders) and myself took a trip up to a First Nations community located in the Fraser Canyon. The community, the Boothroyd Indian Band, is keen on building a bike skills park and local trails to encourage youth in the community to stay active and healthy and away from drugs and alcohol.

The meeting went really well and we have all agreed to work together to return in the spring to begin building the park and train a number of Sprockids Leaders. The youth in the community are super excited and so are we. We anticipate many more exciting project to come.

When you go to vote you should be able to use the register page that you have already set up. If this is your first time voting I've included voting instructions and more details about our project below. If you are comfortable with passing this request on to others I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks so much for your support!

Doug

Doug Detwiller
Sprockids

Voting Instructions

1. Register to Vote - Go to www.avivacommunityfund.org/about/voting to enter your e-mail and a create an Aviva password.

2. Confirm Voting Registration - Aviva will send you a registration confirmation by e-mail. Open the e-mail and click on the link to confirm your registration.

3. Vote - Go to www.avivacommunityfund.org/ideas/acf15049 to vote. NB: You can vote once per day for 15 days. Please try to do so. Your vote really does make a difference!

Project Details
I believe mountain biking is a wonderful sport that brings many benefits, including the opportunity to get outdoors and exercise. I'm teaming up with some collegues in the local biking community to bring these benefits to Aboriginal Youth in rural and remote communities and to help make the sport accessible. We're calling it the Aboriginal Youth Mountain Biking Initiative. The Program's initiatives will include:

• Building mountain bike skills parks and trails in or near Aboriginal communities
• Professional instruction and mountain bike riding workshops
• Hosting workshops on trail building, bike maintenance and bike repair
• Raising funds and assisting Aboriginal Youth obtain mountain biking equipment

The lead organization for this initiative is Sprockids, a program that was developed in 1990 in Gibsons on the Sunshine Coast of BC as a self-esteem/anger management program for youth (www.sprockids.com ). Since then Sprockids has evolved into a multi-faced program engaging thousands of young people in mountain biking while teaching them skills, values and strategies to succeed in life.