GPC Donations

Every year, the Grizzly Peak Cyclists makes donations out of proceeds raised from our Century to bicycle-related non-profit organizations and causes. This is consistent with the club's formal objectives as stated in the GPC Bylaws (Article III): "to provide cyclists with a variety of challenging bicycle-riding experiences and to promote safe bicycle riding and touring".

The procedure for deciding which groups receive funds, and how much, is explained on the donations procedure page.

Here are the GPC donations in recent years. Links are provided for those organizations or causes which have web sites; short explanations are given for those which do not.

¹ EBBC activities of particular interest to GPC members: Working for better bike facilities throughout the East Bay, Bike-to-Work-Day, and bicycle anti-theft programs. When the Alameda County Sheriff tried to require, on very short notice, that the 2005 Mt Hamilton Challenge pay multiple local permit fees, EBBC immediately responded and prepared to file legal action to allow the ride to continue. It then helped arrange a compromise through Supervisor Gail Steele's office.

² The Missing Link Bike Shop, in Berkeley, provides a public space and tools for people to work on their own bikes. The service is free and quite popular. The funds are used to help replace tools which wear out.

¹ Through 2004, GPC donated equally to CABO and CBC. For 2005 and 2006, CABO incurred extra legal fees pursuing the Prokop case, through which they hoped to establish that cities and government agencies are responsible to maintain bicycle paths in safe condition — current case law says there is no such government responsibility. CABO also gave GPC helpful legal insights when dealing with municipalities regarding our Century. For these reasons, in 2005 and 2006 GPC donated extra to CABO.

² Point Reyes Station is a popular destination and lunch spot for many cyclists and many GPC rides. One of the benches near the bike racks in the vacant lot next to the Bovine Bakery is in complete disrepair. Mark Sapiro has offered to coordinate installing a replacement bench, with a "donated by Grizzly Peak Cyclists" plaque. He is in contact with the property owners and users there. Any funds left over from the $400 will be redirected by GPC for donation to other causes.
   Update, June 2007:  Mark Sapiro purchased and installed the donated bench in Point Reyes Station. The total cost was $140. We have yet to decide what to do with the remaining $260 allocated.

³ The Nicasio portapotty is regularly used by bicyclists and our own club rides. The amount would be used to help pay for its costs. Phil Morton is investigating. If the funds are not used for this purpose, they will be redirected by GPC for donation to other causes.
   Update, February 2008:  Phil Morton investigated, and by summer 2007 he had determined that the portapotties were maintained by the Marin County Department of Parks and Open Space. We paid the donation to that Dept in February 2008. (The wheels of GPC bureaucracy sometimes turn slowly!)

¹ The Tinkers Workshop Bicycle Program was located in Berkely at Aquatic Park. Tinkers also ran after-school bicycle programs at Longfellow and King Middle Schools similar to the Cycles of Change programs. Students could build themselves a bicycle from recycled parts; they got to keep the bicycle after it was built. Additionally, Tinkers offered weekend rides to teach children street cycling skills. Tinkers Workshop has a web site, but it made minimal mention of their bicycle program. This program was discontinued in 2006 after personnel changes at Tinkers.

¹ BETR, Bicycle Education Training & Repair, is a program of the Richmond Police Athletic League to help Richmond youngsters through working with bikes and participating in BMX activities.

* Denotes a community project presented at the August 2001 club meeting. See notes for year 2000.

* Denotes community projects presented at the August 2001 club meeting. See notes for year 2000.

¹ The Solano Bicycle Classic is a USCF-sanctioned four-day stage race put on by a very small group of volunteers which attracts top national and international cyclists and teams. It needs support in its third year to establish it as an ongoing and important event early in the US cycling season.

² The Berkeley I-80 bicycle-pedestrian overcrossing, currently under construction and prominently visible from the freeway, is expected to carry a large amount of bike and ped traffic between west Berkeley and the Marina - Bay Trail - Eastshore Park area. The amenity provided could be on the bridge itself or at the touchdown plaza. Possibilities include: one or more benches, a water fountain, an information kiosk, an interpretive sign, an art installation. This will be decided in consultation between GPC representatives and city staff during the city's amenities planning phase. The $1000 listed here, a part of our CY2001 donation cycle, is in addition to the $1000 approved in August 2001 as part of our CY2000 donation cycle, for a total of $2000 for this project.
   Update, August 2005:  The City of Berkeley's design of these amenities has suffered repeated delays. GPC retains the $2000 earmarked for this project and will donate it as agreed, but not until the City's design reaches a point that a specific amenity can be identified. The City of Berkeley contact for this project is Deborah Chernin <DChernin at ci dot berkeley dot ca dot us> and the GPC contact is Mark Abrahams.

³ BAYSTEP, the Bay Area Sustainable Transportation Education Project, promotes utility bicycling. They applied for funds to help produce a Shop-by-Bike brochure.
   Update, August 2005:  BAYSTEP apparently has ceased to exist.

¹ The San Antonio Valley is a remote area south of Livermore and east of Mt. Hamilton. Their Fire Dept needed to replace their only fire truck, which was over 30 years old. Area residents were donating 60% of the cost and soliciting donations to cover the rest. Because GPC often rides through this wonderful area, and on occasion has had to use their emergency services, it was deemed appropriate to contribute.

* Community Projects Using CY2000 Funds Presented at the August 2001 Meeting
In the CY2000 donation cycle, the club decided to set aside $2000 of its donation funds to be used for a larger community project. It took several months to design and carry out a process for determining which community project(s) to fund. Jim Rosenau took charge of this task and did an excellent job. At the August 2001 club meeting, six separate proposals were presented. The club decided to award two of them $1000 each: BORP for a three-wheel bicycle for used by disabled youth, and the Berkeley I-80 bike-ped overcrossing amenity. But ultimately, the remaining projects all received funding: most from the CY2001 donation cycle and one from the CY2002 cycle. (One of the proposals was from EBBC, to help with its new edition of the East-of-the-Hills map. EBBC was never awarded funds for this specific proposal, but it has received increasingly large unrestricted donations every year.)

This page is maintained by Mark Abrahams <webminion at Grizz dot org>.
Comments welcome. If you discover errors, please let me know.