Fugees Family Riding to Summer Academic Boot Camp at Agnes Scott
Decatur Metro | June 18, 2012
Decatur City Commissioner and Bicycle South owner Fred Boykin writes in…
The Fugees Family out in Clarkston (http://www.fugeesfamily.org/) is holding their summer academic boot camp at Agnes Scott through July 16th. Every weekday 70 plus kids will be cycling from Clarkston to Decatur and back – usually around 9 am and 2:30 pm. Bicycle South helped get their bikes ready and we “recycled” a number of bikes for them – donated to us from Decatur residents. This is the fourth year of the camp and since the Fugees Family has no storage space they have to gather bikes together each year in time for the start. I’ll put out an alert to the community next spring for any bike donations as we’re going to keep helping them with this program. The Fugees Family is a great organization working to help out the many refugee children who’ve settled in Clarkston. It’s a great story and folks should check out their web site for more information.
Please note: Bicycle South is a DM Sponsor
Wow. Mind boggling awesomeness from any angle.
Great story. Thanks to Fred, Bike South, everyone involved.
Love this… Is this something other kids can be a part of too?
I saw that group today at Sam’s Crossing and Ponce. There had to be 30+ campers and adults. Super organized in pairs and rolling along! What a great program.
Thanks for this post–I saw them while out and about yesterday morning, and it made me smile knowing the backstory! I have to agree with Gatree that they were VERY well organized given the heavy traffic at that time. They looked like they were having a great time as well.
Luma is a miracle-worker in many ways. One of them is to get these kids bikes each summer. She insists they wear helmets follow the rules. That makes for lots of safe fun on the way to camp. Thanks to Agnes Scott for helping the Fugees gain important academic skills!
This is not a criticism but a serious question: Would it be more cost-effective to find storage space than to gather new bikes every year? Or would it at least be easier to gather donations to pay for the storage rather than run the risk of a bike shortfall? I’m thinking it probably wouldn’t even be that hard to find someone local to provide free storage in exchange for the goodwill publicity of helping this awesome group out.
That aside, great pic and great story! Saw the cycle pack last year and look forward to seeing them again this year. And everyone else, remember, their conscientiousness only goes so far, so be careful and share the road!!!
I was also mulling the storage thing, which led me to wondering how the bikes are being stored while in use.
Fred (or anyone in the know) – Are the kids given the responsibility of securing their loaner bikes for the camp’s duration, and then officially made the owners of the bikes when camp is over? If so, that’s super cool! (If not, how does that part work?)
BIG props to Fred and Bicycle South for pitching in on such a great project!
Deanne,
the kids get to keep the bikes after the summer. For the next year they can turn them in if they need a bigger size (which most of them do). Some bikes end up getting stolen, some don’t last a full year, and we add an additional 20 kids every year. Any of the bikes that we don’t end up using we give to younger family members with a helmet.
Thanks to everyone for their support in making this happen.