Blog

• Snowmen, the Greyhound, and Microcredit

  By: David Janzen, 2008 Rider

  So how does a prairie boy living in Montreal get involved with a non-profit based in Vancouver, B.C. to do a bike trip to Tijuana, Mexico?  Answer:  the Greyhound bus!  My second favourite mode of transport.  On a cross-Canada Christmas bus trip from Quebec to Manitoba and beyond, I sat next to a young woman named Emma.  While building snowpeople on a highway we were waiting to re-open (somewhere over Lake Superior now) she told me about this crazy bike trip she was planning to do this summer to help Global Agents for Change build its microcredit fund.  As a fan of adventures, bicycles and great causes, I was very excited by this combination.

  Now, in my opinion, fundraising, for whatever the cause, is up there with multiplication tables as one of the harshest necessary evils in life.  However, I have been repeatedly impressed at how interested and how generous all sorts of people have been when it comes to supporting microcredit.  The word is out.  Didn’t somebody win the Nobel Peace Prize for that?  Hasn’t microcredit been praised for helping rural people, particularly women?  So once the money has been repaid it can be loaned out over and over again?   In the fundraising world, there are few better feelings than having someone tell you that they have heard about this cause and would love to support what you’re doing.  In a world on the edge (or over it) of food and environmental crises,  it seems critically important that we be doing something about it.

  And now it’s on to the fun part.  With only a few short weeks to go before sendoff from Vancouver, I am looking forward to meandering over the great lakes and across the prairies again to meet up with the other young adventurists who have also been working hard for Global Agents for Change from their own corners of the world.  See you soon everyone and thanks to everyone for their support!

  May 14th, 2008 · No comments
• “Co-op On Speed”

  When I first introduced Communications Coordinator, Jennifer Liu to the organization and the multiple projects we had on the go, she said wow this is like “co-op on speed” (A reference to university co-operative education or internship program). I truly believe this sums up the experience of the typical Global Agents For Change committee.

  With the 2008 Riding to Break the Cycle team of youth leaving on May 31st, there are a million and one things happening. We’re meeting with potential sponsors, securing accommodation during the ride, planning community awareness events, and the list goes on.  Being a part of the Communications Committee is often organized chaos. First it’s a blog post, then it’s email catch up, then coordinating graphic design projects, then writing media releases, and then realizing last year’s campaign has won an international award.

  This is a snapshot of my life as a young volunteer, and this is no exaggeration. If only time would stand still, we could all sit back and see the impact this is having and will have on the lives of the poor. With rising food prices and worldwide shortages of wheat and rice, advocating and giving a voice for the basic needs of the poor has never been so critical. Through creative ideas like microcredit, it gives me great hope and motivation to continue on through the chaotic and some times frantic moments as a volunteer.

  May 8th, 2008 · No comments
• A rider’s perspective

  Hey all,

  Check this vid from one of the 2008 riders, Adam Kebede:

  Nicely done Adam!

  May 8th, 2008 · No comments
• T minus 28 Days…

  By: Bronwyn Churcher, 2008 Rider

  A lot can happen in 28 days right? Like …I can fundraise $1000 more, get a six-pack and nicely bruised/prepped buns of steel, clock 500km on my new bike and get any flat tires that might happen along the way out of the way, and decide exactly how I’m going to pack all my biking, camping, sleeping and backpacking-for-four-months in Central America gear ALL into a very small bag…Impossible you think? No, not necessarily. You see, I’ve been preparing for this last crunch month for a long time. Since I signed up for the ride in January actually. You see, I’m the queen of procrastination and all along, I’ve planned on leaving everything to the last minute. Including training on my bike…Well I did do a triathlon in March, but I suppose that was March and this is May…

  It’s actually all good though- because I’ve discovered a new found love for biking. I’ll admit, for the last four months I have been getting pretty nervous about the actual biking part of the trip. Probably because I was in denial about the fact that it isn’t all downhill to Mexico (north to south = uphill to downhill right?) or maybe I was more in denial about the fact that 3000km is actually a pretty long way. But the facts keep hitting me slap dab in the face everytime someone would ask me ‘So how’s training going? You must be biking a lot everyday hey?’ Well, the fact IS that I live on an island which is extremely hilly and I don’t mean like little hills and dales. I mean mountains. I live beyond the infamous ‘Seven Sister Hills’ (if you’ve ever been to Bowen you’ll have heard of them) and that means that if I want to get any serious mileage, I need to start on lower gradients. Starting small right now means biking from Horseshoe Bay to Vancouver 3 times a week to my yoga class. Start small, think big right? Yes so I had went on this amazing bike ride on Sunday and I just had this great epiphany that biking is the best way to get around EVER. I can see it now…I’m totally gonna turn into one of those obsessed biker chicks by the end of all this.

  I’ve got a big fundraiser coming up and something I’ve really learned is that things take a lot longer to organize, publicize and prepare for than you think they ever will. The benefit concert is this Saturday (I’ve been planning for it for over a month now) and I still don’t know exactly who will show up to play and if there’s going to be much to sell at the concession (my oven is only so big people!) But I plan on buying a LOT of boxed wine and getting everyone sufficiently intoxicated and thus it will go down in Island history as a fabulous evening of fun and frivolity, which other than that, no one will remember. Ah, its been done before….But do come out! It’s at the Gallery on Bowen at 7:30 and its going to be pretty epic. I’m even performing with my sister (and training partner) with vocals, violin AND guitar. Uh huh. As I said: epic.

  But hopefully it will be my last fundraiser and I’ll reach my goal (if not beyond!). It does hang over your head and make you go a wee bit crazy, hatching random money-making schemes and plugging all of your friends (including the starving student or unemployed former-starving-student ones). And as soon as that’s over I have a month to…well…train I suppose?

  May 8th, 2008 · No comments
• DimDim.com Support!

  We’ve reached an agreement with DimDim.com to have free upgrade of their online meeting tools to host all of our rider meetings online. Thanks to DimDim for helping us connect a team thats spread out across the continent, and check it out if you are trying facilitate online meetings, show slides/powerpoints, share a white board, chat publicly and in side convos - working great so far!

  More updates to come…less than 4 weeks until this year’s team hits the road!

  Shawn

  Global AFC

  May 6th, 2008 · No comments
• Emma Banks

  Name: Emma Banks

  Location: that nice place near the water, by the mountains, with trees all around

  Occupation: student

  Passion: elephant hats (with sequins)

  Random Fact: We use the kitchen floor as a couch in my abode.

  Short Bio: Emma walks among warehouses in her neighborhood wondering whether the many Asian ladies at sewing machines have crappy bosses or they just enjoy the minimal sunlight received from basement windows. Maybe she’ll ask a worker next time one passes by. Melting into the rain soaked sidewalk a little piece of colorful art catches Emma’s eye, it is picked up, air-dried, and adopted. Catching her orange haired reflection in the glass storefront boasting “Unquestionably the Best Chocolates” she decides to finish eating her better bagel and gets back to searching out a fantastic band who will play at the Global Agents for Change fundraiser on Friday October 26th!!! Emma lives in Vancouver, BC so the people say, but she thinks she may be living in an alternate reality where all dreams are possible.

  Donate towards my $3000 fundraising goal!

  http://www.givemeaning.com/thon/emmabanksaoc

  April 28th, 2008 · No comments
• Jackie Douglas

  Name: Jacqueline, but everyone calls me Jackie or Jacks

  Location: USA: Boston and New York

  Occupation: Graduating from college

  Passion: Trying and learning new things

  Random Fact:I learned to ride a bike in the Netherlands.

  Bio: I will be graduating from Boston University one week before the bike ride starts. Last year I had the incredible opportunity to study abroad in England, Tanzania, India, New Zealand and Mexico on a program called Rethinking Globalization. I love to cook and bake banana bread. Growing up I wanted to be a photographer and write a book about my experiences. In addition to training for the bike ride, I am training for my first triathlon I am doing in August with my Dad.

  Donate towards my $3000 fundraising goal!

  http://www.givemeaning.com/thon/agent09

  April 28th, 2008 · No comments
• Jess Arnett

  Name: Jess Arnett

  Location: San Francisco

  Occupation: Artist. Guerrilla gardener

  Passion(s): Gardening, creating things, dancing, swimming in the ocean, reading, climbing, being open to other ways of knowing, cooking, biking, environmental justice…

  Random Fact: My grandfather invented pop-tarts.

  Short Bio:Grew up in the bright colors of Miami, Florida, went to college out in Boston, and fell in love in Vermont somewhere in between. I now live in San Francisco in a six-person house, spoiled by the lack of plastic bags in grocery stores, urban gardening, bluegrass festivals, affordable farmer’s markets, and wonderful people.

  Donate towards my $3000 fundraising goal!

  http://www.givemeaning.com/thon/jessbikes

  April 28th, 2008 · No comments
• Kamila Romanowski

  Name: Kamila Romanowski

  Location: Vancouver, BC

  Occupation: Student

  Passion: Seeing every inch of the world and experiencing everything it has to offer

  Random Fact: I can touch tip of my nose with my tongue and am addicted to sour gummy worms.

  Short Bio: I was born in Poland, spent my childhood living in London, England and am now currently a Kinesiology major at SFU with a huge travel bug in my system. I am definitely happiest living out of my backpack or on my bike so this to me is the perfect opportunity to merge two loves and help fight global poverty at the same time! I am unbelievably excited for this adventure of a life time and would like to thank everybody for all their help in making it possible.

  Donate towards my $3000 fundraising goal!

  http://www.givemeaning.com/thon/bike08

  April 28th, 2008 · No comments
• Kayley Anne Redgers

  Name: Kayley Anne Marion Redgers

  Location: Victoria, BC, Canada

  Occupation: Student

  Passions: finishing writing her bio so we can fill this part in…

  Random Fact: see above…

  Bio: I go to UVIC and am studying Environmental and Women Studies. I love the outdoors, backpacking, camping, people, and the list goes on (and on…and on). After deciding against this ride, I was sitting in the airport waiting to fly home for Christmas and was overwhelmed with a sense of urgency for change. I couldn’t stop thinking about how much needed to be changed, and how exactly I could play a role in bringing that change about. All that came to mind was Gandhi’s quote “Be the change you want to see in the world.” The change that I want to see in this world is people helping even when it’s inconvenient, being radical to bring about change. Although I thought this ride was too inconvenient to fit in, I realized what an amazing opportunity was at hand to be a part of bringing forth change, so here I am!

  Donate towards my $3000 fundraising goal!

  http://www.givemeaning.com/thon/kayleyanne

  April 28th, 2008 · No comments