A reader reminded me of a program that’s been around a while that perhaps was not on everyone’s radar: Decatur Active Living’s bike donation program. Director Greg White was good enough to recap the history and ins and outs of the program.

The bike donation was started when we started the Safe Routes to School program in 2007 so that we would have enough bikes for training students how to ride safely.   We started with a bike donation from the police department with about 20 bikes.

Over the past  years parents and individuals from the community have given us bikes.  The Fraternal Order of Police has given us new bikes and Sopo Bikes has provided donations.  We currently have a fleet in the neighborhood of over 30 bikes.  The Police Department has identified all of the bikes in case they are lost or stolen to assist with recovery.  Decatur Active Living would like 20” bikes that are used during the training of all the fourth graders at the 4/5 Academy at 5^thAvenue.  Bikes that need repairing are repaired by Bicycle South who does our annual maintenance prior to delivering the bikes to the school.

The fleet of bikes are delivered by Decatur Active Living staff and during the training the City of Decatur School system allow us to store the bikes on the school grounds.  To donate a bike please contact Gregory White () or Cheryl Burnette ().  Phone: .  

Mary sends in this pic of some city employees trying out some of the new adult exercise equipment installed at Glenlake Park this morning.

Looks like the Decatur Active Living Facebook page also has a few pics of the install!

Decatur City Commissioner Fred Boykin sends along this call for volunteers from Decatur Active Living’s Cheryl Burnette…

Decatur Active Living and the Safe Routes to School Program will be doing Bicycle Safety Training for the 4th grade students at Fifth Avenue. We will be teaching on Thursday, Sept 20, Friday Sept. 21 and Monday-Wednesday, Sept 24-26. All teaching occurs on the Fifth Avenue School Playground.

We need volunteers! Volunteers have the choice of the following times each day:

• 7:45- 10am
• 9:45 – 11:45am
• 12:15 – 2:15pm

Please let me know which day(s) and time(s) you might be able to assist. You do not need to know how to ride a bicycle. We will be teaching them basic signals, and other various skills. We can train you on the job!

Please consider giving a few hours of your time to help with teaching the children how to ride their bicycles safely. It is loads of fun seeing how excited the children get.

Another tidbit from the September Decatur Focus…

Yes, you read that correctly. Thanks to our creative Active Living staff, Glenlake Park and McKoy Park will soon have new playground equipment designed for adults. This equipment offers fun, outdoor exercise options, proving that park fitness equipment isn’t just for kids. The department plans to add this type of equipment to other city parks in the future as part of our annual playground maintenance and replacement budget.

The Active Living staff has expanded the “Walk There Decatur” campaign with new signs located at key activity centers around the city listing the walking distances and number of steps to other activities in the city. It’s just one more way to get people to try walking to the post office from the square or to consider walking from downtown to Oakhurst.

Decatur Active Living’s Cheryl Burnette writes in…

Remember to register for Team Decatur before August 15^th to get a Team Decatur T-shirt! We will be ordering the 2012 shirts this week and cannot promise late registrants a shirt.

What is Team Decatur?
Team Decatur is a group of City of Decatur residents, employees, and friends who participate in the annual Kaiser Permanente Corporate Run/Walk 5k and Fitness Program. In 2011, we had 256 members! This year’s run/walk will be held on Thursday, September 13 at 7pm in downtown Atlanta.

Why join?
Team Decatur members are offered a free eight week training program to prepare for the run/walk event in September. Members have fun, get fit, and get a FREE Team Decatur t-shirt to wear during the race.

Team Decatur members  join together before and after the run/walk at the ‘team tent” to have fun, enjoy refreshments, and make new friends at the “World’s Largest Office Party”!

Visit http://www.active.com/framed/event_detail.cfm?CHECKSSO=0&EVENT_ID=2018914 to register. Be sure to select Team Decatur from the drop down list.

The price for registration goes up to $32 after the end of this week.

For more information on Team Decatur and a full schedule of FREE walk and run training opportunities, visit www.decaturga.com/teamdecatur.

It’s fun, so don’t miss out!