One Street News
October-November 2014
Vol. 7, Issue 8
Gift Ideas from One Street
By Sue Knaup, Executive Director
I’ve been casting a lot of Bike Shift Levers these past few months. Most have gone to our patient Kickstarter donors who waited a year to receive theirs. Now that all our donors are finally taken care of we can start selling these lovely levers. You can see some fun casting photos on our Defying Poverty with Bicycles blog.
I’ve put together a few Gift Ideas from One Street and posted them to our home page at OneStreet.org. Of course our Bike Shift Levers are featured along with our three books: Cures for Ailing Organizations, Backyard Aluminum Casting, and Defying Poverty with Bicycles.
Along with these wrap-able gifts, we have developed a scholarship program to help us connect with qualified bicycle nonprofits ready to produce their own Bike Shift Levers and provide half of their one-time license fee. Licensees receive a casting mold, casting training, a finishing jig, network marketing, and One Street support. They keep all proceeds from the shift levers they produce and sell.
I hope we can find at least one organization in the United States to help me with the production in this country. I have also connected with potential partners in Africa and the United Kingdom. In order to reach our goal of providing Bike Shift Levers where they are most needed, we need to work with quite a few partners around the world. The scholarship fund is designed to help potential partners commit to this production process.
All of the gifts can be given in someone else’s name. Just fill out the Gift Ideas form posted on www.OneStreet.org to show where to send the gift or, if it is a scholarship or donation, to record it as given in honor of your loved one.
All proceeds from this gift program will help support One Street’s service to bicycle programs around the world. Scholarships and donations are tax deductible. Thanks in advance for your help!
Resources – Two Books
Keeping with the gift-idea theme of this newsletter, we just have to feature our most recent books as resources. Both are available at OneStreet.org as well as book vendors worldwide:
Cures for Ailing Organizations is a first aid manual that guides nonprofits and social enterprises out of common difficulties that hinder their work. Until now, organizations working to help our world have been left to struggle on their own and when they disband, as many do, few tears are shed. In fact, nonprofits and social enterprises seem to be expected to struggle, as if it’s a necessary backdrop to their work. This book offers a new expectation that struggle is not acceptable and that anyone can help a great organization regain its strength and vitality.
Backyard Aluminum Casting - While much of this book discusses the Bike Shift Lever project, readers will learn how to cast just about anything using scrap aluminum and make a profit doing so. In addition to casting, the book also offers guidance on product marketing and sales. In the back of the book, readers will find:
- a detailed table of aluminum alloys to help them sort their scrap,
- the design drawings for the Bike Shift Lever.
For readers interested in making Bike Shift Levers, they will learn how to become one of our license partners and receive a permanent casting mold that will hold up to many, many castings.
Hot Topics – Pro Cyclist Steers Away from Helmets
This article is one of many that circulated in early November when British Cycling's policy advisor Chris Boardman called helmets a barrier to cycling. The bicycle helmet debate has gone on for many years now, but not loud enough in our opinion. Too many advocates and decision makers still believe that bicycle helmets are an expected safety measure. Read more about this problem on our Bicycle Helmets page.
While the discussion was fueled by Mr. Boardman, we need far more big names to take a stand against mindless helmet promotion and mandatory helmet laws. Still, the article is uplifting and offers much better uses of bicycle advocacy resource. Enjoy!