VT Kona BikeTown Africa Fundraising Campaign

Left to right: Corrine Watson, Christine George [group leader], Jessica Martin,and Seth Barner

The Cause

Sub-Saharan Africa is caught in a vicious cycle of extreme poverty. With many too sick to work due to HIV/AIDS, malaria, or any other number of infectious diseases, economies continue to fail and individuals are not given a chance to pull themselves and their families out of poverty.

The Project

Kona Bicycle Company has designed a bike specifically for home-healthcare workers in Africa. Through the Kona BikeTown Africa project, AfricaBikes are delivered to disease-ravaged African countries in order to aid the delivery of medical treatment and supplies.

How You Can Help

For $100 you can adopt an AfricaBike and give those in need another chance at life. The cost includes the bike, shipping, assembly, and training in-country. You can also provide a personal graphic or text that will be created into a sticker and placed on your adopted AfricaBike. A small “VT” sticker will also be added to all bikes. When your adopted bike is in Africa and ready for delivery, we will take a picture of it with your personalized sticker visible, and e-mail this picture to you as a memento.

How to Donate

1. Print and fill out donation form
2. Mail the completed form to:
   • Virginia Tech University Honors
     C/O: Christina McIntyre
     137 Hillcrest Hall (0427)
     Blacksburg, Virginia 24061
3. Payment Options:

“Sub-Saharan Africa is a part of the world where a bicycle can make the difference between life and death . . . by allowing health-care workers to deliver medicines - or even something as simple as crucial information that can arrest a disease in its tracks. Or by allowing a laborer to commute to a job that pays a wage that allows him to support his family and break a generations-old cycle of poverty and despair that allows HIV to spread like a wildfire.”

– Bicycling Magazine