VOLUNTEERS ALWAYS NEEDED AND VERY MUCH WANTED

TO HELP WITH MANY FUN EVENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES!

Work with the Village of Palatine to submit the Palatine Bike Plan. It was approved by the Village Council. Read the articles!

Assist Palatine Township with its annual Bike Bonanza. This event includes a stunt rider, silent auction of gently used, donated bikes, bike registration, and bike safety/obstacle course.

Support Bike-to-Metra Day each year by promoting the event and distributing goodie bags containing fruit and free coffee to those who rode bikes to the station. 

Participate 4th of July parade with some specially decorated bikes and fun costumes! Volunteers are always wanted and needed!

Sponsor the annual Palatine CycleFest with a very enjoyable family ride through the streets of Palatine as part of the Palatine Street Fest.  This year's Tour of Palatine offered two rides for 10 and 20 miles.

Distributed a bike survey to all of the Palatine Village Councilmembers to assess their level of support of our group’s interests. We hope to submit for 501(c)(3) non-profit status as well. This will help us incorporate, secure event-related insurance, and open a bank account. Bylaws have been drafted and a final versus will be voted on in 2012.

Host Farmers Market booths: one in July and again in August. Thanks to the volunteers that helped us put on some kids’ bike safety training and games at the market! Helpers are always welcome.

Wellness Fair! The fair will run from 4pm to 8pm in the upper gym at Palatine Park District building located at 250 E Wood Street in Palatine.

Task force members/representatives worked to present suggestions to Harper College with respect to their Campus Master Planning process. These include: 1) construction of a western perimeter paved trail to complement the eastern perimeter trail; 2) installation of more bike racks on campus in high visibility locations; 3) safe bike ingress/egress to the campus core from the perimeter road. We met with the student senate, transportation committee, and green committee. Our suggestions were well received.

Manned booth at the annual Chicago Winter Bike Swap held at Harper College. Attendance was great and with a wider variety of folks turning out, in contrast to prior years when it was dominated by high-end dealers. We were promoting August’s CycleFest, among other things.

Created D-15 Safe Routes to School! The task force coordinates such efforts with Dist 15 administrators, PTAs, police, school nurses, PE teachers, and other stakeholders to launch the programming elements of this important initiative.

Participated in First Responders/Safety Day. Previously, task force had offered a bike/trike safety training and obstacle course. Palatine Township’s Bike Bonanza is usually scheduled in June. 

Members were also present at the Township Bike Auction promoting our organization. With assistance from Palatine Police, task force members, helped a local girl scout troop complete their Bicycling Badge.