Help Portland’s youngest philanthropist put lids on local kids!

NWTA Press Release:

Lids-4-Kids Helmet Drive

First grader creates fundraiser to provide bicycle helmets for Portland needy

Portland, OR – April 08, 2011 – Northwest Trail Alliance is supporting local rider Dillon Mangus in the creation of his new fundraiser Lids-4-Kids.

Dillon, currently a first grade student at Ainsworth Elementary wasn’t interested in the options his mother provided him in satisfying his community outreach requirement. The next weekend, he noticed one of his classmates riding without a helmet and decided to create his own project that focused on helmet safety. Dillon’s main goal is to help provide helmets to kids who don’t have the means to purchase their own.

In researching helmet drives, Dillon discovered that options were limited since programs like Oregon Safe Kids and Trauma Nurses Talk Tough had lost the federal funding for their helmet drive programs. Apparently, when the laws changed to require every child on ‘any wheeled device’ to wear a helmet, the US Department of Transportation no longer saw fit to fund these programs. A bicycle is considered a vehicle, but a scooter or skateboard is not.

So, with a little help from family, and his buddy Kieran, Dillon came up with a name and the tag line ‘Keep the goo on the inside!’ and set about creating a fund-raising page on crowdfunding site Crowdrise.com.

The goal is to raise $5,000 by June 1^st, 2011. The funds will be used to purchase helmets that can be distributed to kids in need during the popular Sunday Parkways events in various Portland neighborhoods. Dillon is also presenting what he has learned about helmet safety to his classmates.

Dillon has partnered with non-profit Northwest Trail Alliance, who will be assisting Dillon with purchasing and distribution of helmets. Northwest Trail Alliance is creating a new page on it’s web site to host information about Lids-4-Kids, helmet safety and the helmet application form. Those interested in applying for a free helmet can download the application and bring it to the Northwest Trail Alliance table at Sunday Parkways.

Dillon and the Northwest Trail Alliance plan to expand this initial class project to a yearly program and invite kids from all over the metro to create their own helmet drive fundraisers.

Northwest Trail Alliance (NWTA) is an all-volunteer, non-profit organization based in Portland, Oregon. It is one of the Northwest’s leading mountain bike advocacy and trail stewardship groups. NWTA is dedicated to promoting the sport of mountain biking to people of all ages in Northwest Oregon and Southwest Washington.

For additional information, please contact:

Matthew Mangus – Director of Marketing

Northwest Trail Alliance

matthewm@nw-trail.org

Websites:

Lids-4-Kids Fundraiser - http://www.crowdrise.com/dillonandkieranshelm

Northwest Trail Alliance - http://www.nw-trail.org

Sunday Parkways - http://www.portlandonline.com/transportation/index.cfm?c=46103

Oregon Safe Kids - http://public.health.oregon.gov/preventionwellness/safeliving/keepingchildrensafe/SafeKids/Pages/index.aspx

Trauma Nurses Talk Tough - http://www.oregon.gov/DAS/SSD/Risk/VehicleTraumaNurses.shtml

PDF of Lids-4-Kids Press Release

Lids-4-Kids_Press_Release_.pdf Download this file

There’s tons of cool sh*t on the web these days. It’s easy to become immune to the barrage of stunning photography and jaw-dropping HD videos popping up from every corner of the world. Sometimes simplicity catches you off guard. Today, I happened across the recent redesign of the Ibis site. Instead of the usual slick corporate drivel, Ibis’ offerings have always been funky & irreverent (which is kind of ironic in itself since they put out arguably the sexiest frame in the industry in the Mojo). I’ve seen watercolor illustration used in web sites before, but never in the action sports industry where the gratuitous action shots are everywhere. Below are the illustrations gracing the front page of the Ibis site. After drooling over them for a bit, I discovered that I can buy prints (and you can too) in the Ibis store here. More from artist Chris McNally can be found here.

Tags: Things We Like, Ibis, Chris McNally, support badass art, ride more work less, those in the know ride a mojo

We keep trying different mindmapping software programs and have yet to find the perfect balance of input (usability) to output (presentation).

Please share your thoughts (and favorite software platforms).
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