CycleADK Gives to Crowdfund for Community Projects

28 Jun CycleADK Gives to Crowdfund for Community Projects

PRESS RELEASE

Contact:

Doug Haney, Cycle Adirondacks Co-Director
518.524.4674, doug@cycleadirondacks.com

SARANAC LAKE — A new partnership aims to support charitable projects in Cycle Adirondacks host communities.

Cycle Adirondacks is a fully supported road cycling tour of the Adirondack region, founded in 2015 by the Wildlife Conservation Society’s (WCS) Adirondack Program. This year, WCS and Cycle Adirondacks are teaming up with Adirondack Foundation’s crowdfunding platform, Adirondack Gives, and the Glenn & Carol Pearsall Adirondack Foundation to raise funds for community projects in Saranac Lake, Schroon Lake, and Keene Valley.

The 2017 tour is scheduled for August 19-25 and will feature each project as guests from over 30 states and provinces spend two consecutive nights in each community.

“We want Cycle Adirondacks to be as community focused as possible,” said Zoë Smith, director of WCS’s Adirondack Program. “The event itself is an economic driver for the region, but we felt we could do even more.”

With a grant from the Pearsall Foundation, Cycle Adirondacks is providing seed funding to three crowdfunding campaigns. The host communities and riders will look to spread the word and generate additional gifts.

“Through this program, we’re able to bring cyclists from all over North America directly into the story of our incredible overnight host communities,” said Cycle Adirondacks Co-Director Doug Haney. “Not only will our riders be contributing to the projects, but they will have the opportunity to see, interact and learn more about them during this summer’s tour.”

Saranac Lake Youth Center Bike Fund

The Saranac Lake Youth Center is working to establish a fund to purchase bikes for Saranac Lake area youth in grades 6-12. The main priority is to get bikes to youth who need them for transportation, recreation, and exercise. In addition to providing bikes, the youth will be taught bike safety and be given helmets and locks. The goal is to have the youth “earn” the bikes through an application process and then be eligible for selection by the Saranac Lake Youth Center Board of Directors. Learn more: http://bit.ly/SLBikeFund.

Helping an Adirondack Wild Child in Keene Valley

Beavers are habitat engineers, building dams and ponds that make our mountain home biologically and beautiful — but this work can also get them into trouble! Flooding costs our towns money and often leads to trapping and killing beavers to prevent them from causing damage. To protect New York State’s official mammal, we are helping Keene Central School install a “beaver-deceiver” water control structure to prevent flooding and keep this wild child out of trouble while they do their beaver thing, enhancing native habitat. Learn more: http://bit.ly/KeeneBeavers.

Schroon Lake School Chicken Coop

The goal of the new Farm to Table program at Schroon Lake Central School is to help students understand where their food comes from and how they can use the earth to become self-sufficient and responsible consumers. The centerpiece of our Farm to Table program will be the construction of a chicken coop, not far from our playground and the future camping site of Cycle Adirondacks. Our new coop will be used as a study lab for raising and understanding livestock.  Along with the other facets of our Farm to Table program such the construction of raised garden beds and the implementation of a composting system, we hope to instill and teach a lifelong passion for gardening and farming, and responsible use of the land. Learn more: http://bit.ly/SchroonChickenCoop.

For more information about Cycle Adirondacks, visit cycleadirondacks.com. To learn how Adirondack Foundation uses crowdfunding to support Adirondack communities, visit www.adirondackgives.org.

About Cycle Adirondacks

Cycle Adirondacks mission is to grow and support bicycle tourism in New York’s Adirondack Park. Our flagship event is The Ultimate Cycling Vacation, an annual award winning, fully supported weeklong road cycling tour of one of the most spectacular natural landscapes in the world. The success of The Ultimate Cycling Vacation has since led to Cycle Adirondacks support of two incredible day rides, Ride for the River and Bike The Barns. Cycle Adirondacks is now at the forefront of driving and shaping bicycle tourism in the Adirondacks and surrounding region.

###