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Bicycles for Baja
California Christmas
event is an annual fund-raising effort to round up used bicycles and
youth sports equipment for kids in Baja Mexico.
The
surfing is great in Baja California. When world famous surf patriarch,
Blackie August, took his kids to Baja to surf as youngsters, they spread
goodwill during their journeys. The August boys (including renown board
shaper, Robert August,) were instructed to leave their bicycles with the
local kids as gifts, and provide a surfing lesson, as well.
In honor of Blackie August,
"Blackie's Bicycles for Baja" has become an annual fund-raising event
adopted by the Huntington Beach Longboard Crew, a 501(c)3 non-profit
organization dedicated to the sport of longboard surfing.
The club's annual bicycle
give-away has become a tradition and hit among the girls and boys who
live south of San
Diego in Erindira and Colenet (Quatro Casas), Mexico, as well.
"The kids' eyes light up when they
see us arrive," said Bruce Walczyk, HB Longboard Crew vice president.
"Sometimes the children will trade in last year's model for a newer
or larger bicycle." Walczyk, an avid surfer, said club members
spend about a month rounding up the bikes and cleaning them up for
delivery before Christmas. Several trucks are then filled with the
like-new bikes and donated youth sporting equipment, which is driven
across the border to several towns in Baja. There is much fanfare when
the trucks arrive in each village--eager kids wait their turn to pick out
a bicycle and ride it home.
The public is invited to donate
bicycles, tricycles and youth sporting equipment such as soccer or
basketballs that are in good shape (no junk, please!!!) The bikes are cleaned up, given new tires, chains and any minor fixes as
needed.
If you would like to donate a bike, you have till
Saturday, December 8,
2007. Are you handy? If so, please join the big bike "fix-it"
party at 11 a.m. that day. For details, call "Wally" Bruce Walczyk at
(714) 848-0800 to drop off a "running" bicycle at 8306 Rolf Circle,
Huntington Beach, CA.
You may also donate cash to help pay for the
repair tires and chains, or gas
for the trucks the HB Longboard Crew rounds up for the drive to Baja Mexico.
(Contributions are tax deductible.) Throughout the year, you can visit the Longboard Crew
web site at www.hblongboardcrew.org and join the organization, even if you
are not a surfer.
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