Bringing exercise and the great outdoors to Norfolk students

By Kelly Kandra Hughes

Thanks to a serendipitous encounter at Norfstroms salvage shed, approximately 40 Botelle Elementary students will receive new bikes this year. Sara Hannafin, Director of Engagement at Can’d Aid, had stopped by the transfer station in June when she noticed Norfstroms on her way out. Wanting to know more about the salvage shed, she popped in to look around. 

Hannafin, born and raised in Norfolk, was recognized by a Norfolk NET volunteer at Norfstroms that day, and they struck up a conversation. It was during this conversation that another NET volunteer overheard Hannafin discuss the work she does for Can’d Aid, a national non-profit organization based out of Colorado whose mission is to “spread people-powered do-goodery through Towns, Tunes, Treads & Trails and Love Your Mama efforts nationwide.” Hannafin specifically said she’d love to host a Treads & Trails Bike Build event in Norfolk. The eavesdropping NET volunteer then interrupted the conversation and offered the assistance of Norfolk NET to help make that event happen. 

Planning and fundraising for a late September Treads & Trails Bike Build event is now underway. Students in grades one through three at Botelle, as well as any home-schooled children in those grades, would be the main recipients for the bike build. 

Norfolk is an ideal place to offer this sort of event. Even though there is some great wealth in the community, one-third of the households in Norfolk earn less than $45,000 per year and one-third of the students at Botelle are eligible for the free and reduced lunch program. Most children in the U.S. are also not meeting the recommended one hour of exercise per day to keep them healthy and fit. Receiving a new bicycle through this program could provide much- needed benefits for many Norfolk children. 

The bikes will be assembled locally by donors and volunteers. Although a date has not yet been set for assembling the bikes, the build will take place at Norbrook Brewery in Colebrook, with a happy hour to follow. 

Students will then be surprised with the bikes at a school assembly. They will be fitted for a helmet and allowed to pick out a new set of wheels. A professional athlete will also be featured. In addition to performing bike tricks for the enjoyment of the audience, the athlete will encourage students to be more active in their communities, by both getting outdoors and learning new skills that can benefit themselves and others. 

One way students will be encouraged to learn these new skills is through the Norfolk NET Makerspace bike repair station housed at Battell Chapel. By partnering with Norfolk NET, Can’d Aid hopes all students who receive a bike will visit Makerspace to learn basic bike repair and maintenance to keep their own bikes in great condition, as well as learn skills for possible future jobs in the bike maintenance trade. 

Additional bikes will also be built and donated to Norfolk NET, with the intention that the bikes will be housed at Makerspace. Any local children who are size-appropriate for the bikes and are

willing to learn the skills of bike maintenance and repair will then be able to apply to take a bike home with them. 

Can’d Aid’s fundraising goal for the September Treads & Trails Bike Build event is $14,000. Funding efforts will be through local foundation requests and crowd-sourced fundraising through an online platform, as well as individual requests. If you would like to donate or volunteer to build a bike, please contact Hannafin at hannafin@candaid.orgor head to https://candaid.salsalabs.org/norfolkto set up a fundraising page or to make an online donation that will go directly to the Norfolk goal.

Photo courtesy of Can’d Aid.