Positively Philadelphia: Cycling For a Kids' Cycling-Based Charity
By Lauren Lipton
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The big TD Bank Philadelphia International Cycling Championship is June 3rd, and a new part of the action this year is a course that anyone can try before the big race begins.
And you can raise money for charity at the same time.
"This charity ride is for Neighborhood Bike Works," says Jim Wiley, a local businessman and avid cyclist (in top photo). "What happens is that they collect used bicycles and bicycle parts, and from those scrap parts they teach kids in Philadelphia how to build a bike. And they build a bike with them, and these kids get a bike," he explains.
Wiley will be among those riding and raising money for Neighborhood Bike Works.
"I always grew up with a bike as most people grew up with a bike, and these are kids that for the first time ever will have their own bicycle," he says. "And they will also have built it themselves."
Hear or download Lauren Lipton's full interview with Jim Wiley in this CBS Philly podcast (runs 5:18)...
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Benjamin Franklin High School ninth grader Robert Taylor is a graduate of the "Earn a Bike" program.
"I actually love the program," he tells KYW Newsradio. "It taught me a lot of stuff about bikes and has given me a lot of opportunities."
Including bike racing.
"We do have a racing team," Taylor says. "I have to say that's been the most life-changing thing I ever went through. It showed me so many skills, and I've been able to go to so many places and meet so many new people."
Wiley, the businessman, thinks the program provides young people with advantages large and small: "Kids who've never had a bicycle can now have a bicycle that they can ride for the rest of their life," he says.
For more information go to www.procyclingtour.com.
That's "Positively Philadelphia!"
"Positively Philadelphia" main page
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