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Five years ago, while volunteering for Red Mountain Park in Birmingham, AL, Doug Brown read about Trips for Kids in American Trails Magazine and that moment changed his life course. At the time, Doug was a successful local insurance broker and avid cyclist, but he was searching for something more. Birmingham is in the national top 10 for obesity and diabetes. With the obesity and diabetes crisis in the Birmingham area rising, Doug felt he could really make positive impact in his community by introducing kids to the benefits of biking. “We have great trails and parks in the metro area. There is a master plan to connect and build 250 miles of trail in the county over the next 30 years. Fifty have already been completed. I liked what I read about Trips for Kids in an American Trails publication. It seemed like a good fit. We have a lot of families here who are below the poverty level and I wanted to reach those kids.” Today, Trips for Kids Birmingham is doing just that under the leadership of their volunteer executive director, Doug Brown, by exposing underserved kids to bicycle riding, state park visits and exercise that is fun. They also provide opportunities for kids to earn bikes through their Earn-a-Bike Workshop program which is based in their ReCyclery community bike thrift shop. Doug doesn’t accept a penny for overseeing the organization and runs his chapter on a skeleton crew of volunteers and a part-time bike mechanic who receives a small stipend for all the work he does. All money raised goes back into supporting the organization’s programming, which includes their Earn-a-Bike Workshops, Discovery Trail Rides and Recyclery thrift shop. Trips for Kids Birmingham has become a pillar in their community working with other area community partners by donating bicycles to other agencies, including Family Guidance Center, MLK Community Center, Christian Service Mission and Love Thy Neighbor Ministries. In October, Doug was named Volunteer of the Year from Family Guidance Center, another local nonprofit which provides programs and services designed to enable people of all ages in Alabama to envision and achieve their goals. Doug was surprised and quite humbled by the designation. “All we did was donate bikes they needed.” Doug shared that Birmingham recently updated their website with their new tagline, “Everyone deserves to know the joy of riding a bicycle". When asked what Birmingham’s greatest challenge was, Doug states, “We could reach so many more kids and do so much more for the community if transportation was not such a problem.” For now, Doug focuses on the youth he can reach and takes great joy in knowing how introducing kids to bicycling has impacted their lives. Doug shared a recent story, “We had this great kid go through our Earn a Bike program and two weeks after his graduation, his grandmother called and said he had a problem with his bike. I went by his house and helped him fix it and while I was there, he told me that he had already ridden to the grocery store and the library. The happiness in his voice of how the bicycle allowed him to be independent and help his family makes this work worthwhile. His joy became my joy.”

Advocacy is not just a word, but a common practice at Giant Bicycles. Industry leaders can choose to lead in a variety of ways with leadership extending far beyond their product's market share. Giant Bicycles is not only a cycling industry leader, but is also a leader in creating a corporate culture that strives to encourage their employees, customers and the general public alike to give back to their communities. Via their main tool, the bicycle, the corporation actively supports programs that encourage others to lead healthier lives while also championing for safer bike paths and trails for all to enjoy. Last year, Trips for Kids was in need of a sponsor to support our chapter expansion campaign. Giant Bicycles immediately stepped up and stepped in to fill the need by committing to providing our new chapters with small bike fleets to get them started. “At Giant; our mantra is “Ride Life”. This is not just a catchy ad phrase. We sincerely believe in the power of the bicycle to change and enrich lives forever. For 30 years Trips for Kids chapters have been using the bicycle as a tool for human development. Exposing our youth to a world of possibilities outside of their world, guiding them through critical self-discovery of inner strength, selfless teamwork and the brilliance of nature. We are honored to support those who do the right thing to develop hope and good people for our future,” stated John Munhall, Director of Product Management at Giant Bicycles when asked what made the company decide to support the organization. Since 1972, Giant Bicycles has blazed a trail to making biking accessible for all and by doing so has been a catalyst for change in the industry, engineering & manufacturing innovative, and sometime disruptive, products to enhance the riding experience for their customers no matter what type of cycling they love to do. You can find their products in more than 12,000 retail stores around the world. The company is known as the world's largest manufacturer of quality bicycles, but Trips for Kids also knows Giant Bicycles for their Giant heart. "Their core values align with what we teach our youth participants each day," states Robert Alan Ping, executive director for Trips for Kids, "We use the bicycle to teach about the journey of life and the importance of respecting themselves, others and the environment. We teach kids to recognize their potential by pushing their boundaries and comfort zones. We teach kids to be open to new experiences. Like Giant Bicycles, we hope to make these lessons available to all, by making our programming accessible to as many communities as we are able to. Our goal is to reach another 120,000 kids within the next five years and with Giant Bicycles as a member of our Trips for Kids family, we know we'll get there." To learn more about Giant Bicycles connection to their communities visit their advocacy page.

Oral History of Marilyn Price, Founder of Trips for Kids, by Mill Valley Library and Mill Valley Historical Society Scope & Content: In this oral history, bicycling enthusiast and social entrepreneur Marilyn Price recounts the path that led to her life’s work as founder of the nonprofit Trips for Kids. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1940, Marilyn moved to California in 1966 after completing a degree in sociology at the University of Michigan. In the early 1980s, Marilyn set down roots in downtown Mill Valley. Marilyn describes her decades-long work in progressive nonprofits, which culminated in Trips for Kids, a project dedicated to taking disadvantaged youth on bicycle rides through Marin’s beautiful natural environment as well as providing job training through the Earn-A-Bike program. Marilyn discusses how she built Trips for Kids out of her home and how the program expanded to the national and even international levels, with chapters as far flung as Canada, Israel and South Africa. Throughout this oral history Marilyn warmly expresses her affection for Mill Valley, passion for bicycling, and deep social commitment. She also discusses friendships within and beyond the Marin County bicycling community. Audio and Transcript: Click here to hear recording. Click here to read the transcript. Dates of Creation : 2015-09-10 Narrator's name : Price, Marilyn Interviewer : Schwartz, Debra Extent and Medium : Transcript: 17pp Recording: 56:59 Search Terms : Bicycle shops Bicycles Bicycling Breeze, Joe Earn-A-Bike Entrepreneurs Environmental issues - Marin County Environmental protection Fox, Kevin Johnson, Huey Trips for Kids Youth Object ID : 2016.016.001 Object Name : Recording Copyrights : Transcript and recording copyright Mill Valley Public Library, 2015. Materials are made available for research purposes only; all rights are reserved to the Mill Valley Public Library. Requests for permission to quote for publication or for any other usage must be obtained from the Library.