Community Invited to Support Bike Fort Collins on Colorado Gives Day

Bike Fort Collins is asking the community for their support and donations on Colorado Gives Day, Tuesday, December 8, to continue their work of making positive impacts on the community.

A few impacts Bike Fort Collins (BFC) has made to the community are new “Bikes May Use Full Lane,” “Motorists Must Give 3-Feet Clearance” county road and highway signage, new bilingual wayfinding trail and bikeway signage in North Forty Collins, and providing Safe Routes to School bicycle education curriculum to area Poudre School District students. Community donations received this year will aid BFC to increase their impact further with the help of a $5,000 matching gift from long-time Fort Collins resident and former BFC board member Wendy Poppen.

“I believe Bike Fort Collins has played an integral role in establishing the strong bike culture that Fort Collins is known for nationwide,” said Wendy. “That said, there’s still a lot of work to be done,” Wendy said.

Contributions to BFC will help to provide the following:

• Support the delivery of Safe Routes to School programming, a joint effort between BFC and the City of Fort Collins to teach bicycle skills, rules of the road, and safe bicycling etiquette to elementary, middle school, and high school students within PSD. While the ability to deliver programming has been compromised this year due to remote learning, the Safe Routes to School video series has been created to reach kids still this year.
• Help enable Bike Fort Collins to innovate and develop new programs, such as Wish for Wheels Foco—an effort to provide a FREE bike and helmet to every 2^nd-grader in PSD’s six (6) Title 1 schools (400 kids). Working with generous partners, sponsors, and donors, nearly 260 bikes and helmets were delivered this fall in the program’s inaugural year.
• Support bicycle advocacy efforts to improve the ability for all (any ability or identity) to ride safely in and around Fort Collins, such as:
  • Adding new road signage throughout Larimer County and up Highways 14 and 34 that more effectively communicate expectations and road use regulations/laws by all road users;
  • Bringing to light opportunities to improve intersections and road facilities as it relates to bicycling with appropriate city officials and committees/boards;
  • Spearheading an initiative to develop “Creative Streets,” that cost-effectively improve intersections by aesthetically painting missing curb infrastructure and traffic control devices—instead of costly street renovations and construction;
  • Having bi-lingual wayfinding signage installed along the bike trails and bikeways in North Fort Collins to enable Spanish speaking users better to find their way to area amenities;
  • Participation in or as a member of numerous organized groups to spread pro-bicycle and advocacy messages and help identify and solve active transportation challenges and problems.

“Organizations like Bike Fort Collins need our support during this challenging time,” said Wendy. “Judging from the increase in the number of bikes I’ve seen out and about, it has been the same for many others who have discovered or rediscovered the joy of riding,” Wendy said.

For more information regarding Bike Fort Collins, visit: bikefortcollins.org or to learn more about Colorado Gives Day and make a donation, visit: ColoradoGivesDay.org