[MCN] celebrate moms at free cycles friday

[Bob Giordano]

Please join us at Free Cycles for a free first Friday event: This includes
grilled cheese for the young ones, a cool beverage for the older ones, and
the sweet tunes of Mud Slide Charlie!

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Free Cycles Missoula is in the home stretch to raise money to buy our home
on S. 1st St.  'Shine Bright Mamma', this Friday, May 6th, from 6PM to
9:30PM, includes food, beverage, an art auction and raffle and live music
with Missoula blues legends Mud Slide Charlie.

Free Cycles has existed in Missoula for twenty years, providing all walks
of life with bike repair skills, free parts and the opportunity to make a
free bicycle.

Over 200,000 shop visits have been recorded since 1996, with 18,000 free
bicycles ridden out the door.  The aim of Free Cycles is to help clean the
air and give bike skills and engagement skills to the community at large.

Shine Bright Mamma is about celebrating Mothers.  This is the 4th of four
campaign social affairs.  The other three events celebrated neighborhood,
environmental justice, and circles of care.  While the events are free of
charge, donations are encouraged and welcomed.

Free Cycles is trying to raise 1.1 million dollars to buy the 2 acre
property that is for sale on 1st street.  The location is ideal for the
community bicycle shop and its umbrella organization, the Missoula
Institute for Sustainable Transportation.  Residing on S. 1st street for
11 years, the non-profit plans to expand bicycle and community programs
with a strong emphasis on community engagement and empowerment.

If the full 1.1 million cannot be raised, then a bank loan is being sought
to buy the property.  A down payment of around $250,000 would ensure that
Free Cycle has a long term home.  Currently free cycles has raised
$110,000 through several thousand small donations.  Free Cycles believes
the community can help double this amount by the May 23rd deadline.  For
more information, or to make a donation, see www.freecycles.org, or email
director Bob Giordano at mist at strans.org


More Celebration details:

Shine Bright Mamma, A Cycles of Change Campaign Social Affair

Celebrating Mothers, FIRST FRIDAY OF MAY! Starting at 6pm
MudSlide Charley will be playing 7pm to 9pm with food, beverage, a silent
auction, including art and items donated from local businesses around the
community. We will be serving soup, salad, bread, and grilled cheese
sandwiches for the young ones!

Beer, wine, tea, and juice for beverages.
Arts and crafts for families!
Interactive art speaking to why we love our mammas!
All are welcome, donations are appreciated.


Quotes from the organizers:

“Why am I helping Free Cycles with the ‘Shine Bright Momma’ event?
I see it as a way to give back to an organization that is given so much to
Missoula community. I was always curious about Free Cycles until my
son started to work there then my curiosity turned into admiration for the
work that is being done every day, year after year. For 20 years free cycles
has helped individuals and families to grow and to move and to find
sustainable, healthy transportation. At free cycles folks also find
friendship, conversation and sometimes it provides just a safe place to be
and to feel safe and relevant.  Helping with this event just felt right,
it is a very small thing to do for a place that gives such a big piece of
life to Missoula.”
-Vicki Voegelin, volunteer organizer of the event


“I have led this community bicycle program for twenty years for one
main reason- the people.  Yes, we’d like to see more people riding bikes,
and we are passionate about teaching people how to fix their own
transportation, yet it is the social dynamic of people helping people
that makes Free Cycles an important part of Missoula.  And there is
quite the magic when moms and kids come make bikes together.”
-Bob Giordano, Free Cycles Director


“There is nothing more fulfilling than watching a young one and
their mother working on a bicycle together and eventually leaving
the shop on working wheels in smiles and laughter. This type of
joy is impossible to mimic or stage, yet is often reciprocated by
these moms through a passion of advocacy and future involvement.”
-Emily Jensen, Programs Director


-- 
Bob Giordano, Director
Free Cycles Missoula
Shop: 732 S. 1st St. West, ph. 541.7284
10AM-6PM Tues-Sat, www.freecycles.org
Missoula Institute for Sustainable Transportation
www.strans.org, mist at strans.org, 406-880-6834