Seedlings, Cycling, Blood, and Heels: A #MyNonprofits Update

Before you read this post: renew or start a membership for the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition. Do it now. I'll wait. 

Join #MyNonprofits: donate to a different nonprofit a day, every day for seven days or more, share why you love them, and nominate someone to do the same. 

Now that you've become a member of the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition, I want to tell you about a fun thing I did on May 9 with the hopes you agree to do it on May 23.   

What I did was volunteer to bring seedlings from one of #MyNonprofits, Valley Verde in San Jose to families in need. As I noted in my last post: Valley Verde was supposed to hold their seedling fair but COVID-19 put a stop to that. What they decided they wanted to give the seedlings away, and they enlisted the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition to handle the logistics and gathering volunteers to deliver the seedlings. It was a successful event that was covered by NBC Bay Area and The San Jose Mercury News. 

Signing up to do it made me happy. Putting it on my calendar made me happy. Heading there with my City Bike towing the seven year-old bike trailer made with an IKEA tub and Bike Friday trailer frame made me happy. 

I showed up, and even though we were set at an acceptable physical distance and all wore masks, I was still able to recognize some friends. That made me happy, too. 

Like the other riders, I showed at my pre-determined time slot and chose my rides - two deliveries about eight miles away. I rode out, I delivered the seedlings, I rode back.

And Valley Verde and Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition are doing it again on Saturday, May 23. If you've lost your job recently or struggling financially due to COVID-19 visit www.valleyverde.com by May 19th and follow the instructions to see if you qualify.

If you were among the scores of people who signed up to help deliver the seedlings by bike and were turned away because there were too many volunteers sign up to deliver seeds here. And if you get to Valley Verde before your appointment time, pop into iJava to get something to drink. 

View from iJava Cafe on Auzerais

I have some other Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition news: I am going to be on a panel on Wednesday at noon called How to Haul Anything By Bike. It's the last Bike Month webinar co-produced by the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition and Commute.org - Register for the Zoom webinar here.  

I have a couple of other things to update you about with a couple of #MyNonprofits.

Veggielution

Veggielution just had their Eastside Connect event online. They had Sal Pizarro of The San Jose Mercury News as the emcee, author Cecilia Tsu as the keynote, and a variety of special guests. Watch it here and make a donation to Veggielution.

Good Karma Bikes

Good Karma Bikes is on 460 Lincoln Avenue in San Jose and is open for repairs and sales as long as you wear a mask and engage in physical distancing. Prior to the pandemic they'd hold mobile blood drives on site with a Bloodmobile from Stanford Blood Center - and they correctly understand the need for blood donors hasn't gone away during Shelter in Place. The next Good Karma Bikes blood drive is on May 28th. Make an appointment to give blood here.  

YWCA Silicon Valley (Walk a Mile in her Shoes) 

YWCA Silicon Valley is going forward with Walk a Mile again this year - but instead of men walking in heels in a huge group in Santana Row to raise money to help fight domestic violence, they're doing a virtual walk to raise money to help fight domestic violence. I'm doing it for the third year in a row (I saved my size 12 wedges I used last year, as you can see) and this time I'm recruiting mates at my office to do it with me. I hope you register for Walk a Mile in Her Shoes and encourage others to do that too. 

That's all I've got for now: remember to keep washing your hands and taking care of yourself. I know all of us are experiencing some unruly cocktail of grief/shock/loss, but you still have your job and your health please start thinking of the nonprofits that matter to you and show them some support. As I write this I am supposed to be flying to Italy so I could eat and bike my way around Umbria. But I'm slowly letting go of where I'm supposed to be and thinking about where I am - and what I can do. Thanks for reading and thanks for riding. 

Morgan Hill, California. May 17, 2020