Hot sunshine in a tropical resort isn’t the only way tourists can feel the warm fuzzies.
Bill Ark, an artist and carpenter from Invermere, B.C., is suggesting that people who travel to poorer countries take along a bicycle they no longer use and donate it to somebody there.
He explains how to do it on his website at www.give
abicycle.org. The idea is based on the fact that airlines will allow travellers to take along a bicycle that has been partially disassembled and packed into a flat box.
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Ark said he came up with the idea after seeing someone take a bike on a trip to Cuba.
“I asked what he was doing with it. He said he’d ride around while on vacation and then give it to somebody when he had to go home.”
That was in 2002. Ark said his website receives about 500 hits a day, although he has no idea how many people are trying the donation idea. However, he has had feedback from some who say it made them feel good about themselves.
Ark said organizations in Vancouver, Tokyo and New York collect discarded bicycles and send them by container to poorer regions.
“But if you’re not from one of those cities then this is a way you can do it individually.”
Ark, who speaks Spanish, has talked to workers in winter sun resort areas and found that while they earn $6 to $10 a month, a western-made bicycle still costs them $150. So a donation can be a major help to someone.
Ark plans to follow up on his charitable ideas. Next year when his last child leaves home, he plans to do volunteer work in Central America.
