Bike for the Brain

Wyandot Center’s 2012 Report

David — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 20:25:13 +0000

In 2012, Bike 4 the Brain generously granted Wyandot Center’s Homeless Outreach Program $2,500.00 in funds that we used to purchase food items in the homeless outreach work that we do here in Wyandotte County. As we cited in our grant application, the simple act of offering food supports harm reduction and helps build trust with the individuals we are outreaching. It also provides needed nutrition for many of the people located on outreach. Part of the service provided via the outreach activities performed by team members is to offer a healthy, nutritious food item to everyone who is outreached.

The $2,500 we received from Bike 4 the Brain helped pay for fruit, dairy products, canned soups and pasta, canned tuna and vegetables that the team members take on outreach activities throughout the year, in addition to other needed supplies like toiletry items and socks (purchased only when we do [...]

KidsTLC 2012 Report

David — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 20:21:07 +0000

KidsTLC Report to the Bike 4 the Brain Committee 12.14.2012

To all members of the Bike 4 the Brain committee, thank you for your support, hard work and dedication to this amazing event! On behalf of the thousands of children served since 1972, KidsTLC is so grateful for your donation that provided a “Summer of Arts”

program to the children housed at our Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility (PRTF). KidsTLC is pleased to provide you with an update and share with you the exciting activities that were made possible by your generous funding.

The goal of our grant project was to provide traumatized youth who are suffering from one or more diagnosed mental illnesses with access to expressive therapeutic wellness activities. These youth stay at KidsTLC, on average, 80-90 days and receive high-quality therapy and treatment through the PRTF “Phoenix” program. The exciting activities our clients were able to participate [...]

Congratulations to the following agencies who will receive a $2,500 grant from B4B in 2012!

David — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 18:47:50 +0000

Niles Home for Children http://www.nhc-kc.org/

Kids TLC http://kidstlc.org/

Sheffield Place http://www.sheffieldplace.org/

reStart http://www.restartinc.org/

Synergy Services, Inc. http://www.synergyservices.org/

Wyandot Center for Homeless Outreach http://www.wyandotcenter.org/

Wyandot Behavioral Health Homeless Outreach Services

David — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 19:42:11 +0000

Homeless Outreach Services in Wyandotte County gets a $2500 grant from Bike for the Brain:

Homeless Outreach services can help Wyandot county's homeless guys like this one walking in the snow across the pedestrian bridge on last years Bike for the Brain route.

In 2011, Bike 4 the Brain generously granted Wyandot Center’s Homeless Outreach Program $2,500.00 in funds that we used to purchase food items in the homeless outreach work that we do here in Wyandotte County. As we cited in our grant application, the simple act of offering food supports harm reduction and helps build trust with the individuals we are outreaching. It also provides needed nutrition for many of the people located on outreach. Part of the service provided via the outreach activities performed by team members is to offer a healthy, nutritious food item to everyone who is outreached.

The $2,500 we received from Bike [...]

Rod McBride, Heart Attack Survivor

David — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:54:15 +0000

Midwest Rock Lobster, heart attack survivor

Rod McBride, also known as Trigger or Midwest Rock Lobster, is a heart attack survivor after he almost died at the age of 32. This month he met a woman that would be his fiance, Corinna West, the current Bike for the Brain webmaster. This is a bicycle love story, as the two met via bicycle near City Market as he describes here on his blog.

Video of Midwest Rock Lobster talking about being a heart attack survivor:

Rod talks about what gives him Personal Power, his bicycling. He has found that cycling can get him though tough times and it was exactly what he needed as a heart attack survivor. At first he said that he never thought twice about putting his bike on his car and riding to group rides. Then he met another transportational cyclist and learned how to bike [...]

Martha Prim – Consumers as Providers Graduate

David — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:39:52 +0000

Bike for the Brain Social Media coordinator Corinna West met Martha Prim at the 2011 Kansas Recovery Conference in Wichita, Ks. Martha is a graduate of Consumers as Providers.

Consumers as Providers:

Martha Prim, a graduate of the consumers as providers program

From the KU School of Social Welfare Website: The Consumers as Providers Training Program teaches consumers of mental health services the skills and knowledge on the provision of mental health services in order to work in the mental health or human service field as a consumer provider such as a Certified Peer Specialist. Consumers as Providers is a Kansas Certified Peer Specialist Training Program that consists of 18 weeks classroom instruction and Educational Support Group followed by 104 hours (7 weeks) of internship activities. Consumers as Providers partners with mental health agencies across the state of Kansas, Kansas universities and community colleges and social service and mental [...]

Jake Wiens, Pedicab rider

David — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:32:11 +0000

Poetry for Personal Power interview – “How do you Get through difficulties?”

The Poetry for Personal Power rolling bicycle based health fair display booth talks with jay Matlack, the found of Tricycle Transit

Jake Wiens of Tricycle Transit talks about how art, and bicycling can help him through tough times in his life. This interview was done as part of the Poetry for Personal Power project, where a Rolling Bicycle Based Health Fair display booth went around Kansas City’s Crossroads Arts District to see how people got through difficulties in their lives. The idea was, “What Gives You Personal Power?” This is based on Pat Deegan’s personal medicine concept.

Pat Deegan is a Ph.D. psychologist who was diagnosed with schizophrenia at age 17 but then fully recovered and revolutionized the mental health field. When she was looking to find what was most helpful in people’s recovery, she found that [...]

How to Calculate Bicycle Mileage Reimbursement Rates

David — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:17:33 +0000

Work errands are perfect for bicycle mileage reimbursement. This shot caught with a load of groceries from the Missouri River overlook towards the Broadway Bridge

Corinna West: How to get your boss to pay you a bicycle mileage reimbursement when riding a bicycle on the clock

A few years ago I won a bicycle commuting advocacy battle to have my employer pay me to ride for work errands. They also decided as part of that situation to pay me mileage reimbursement. The question is, How much to pay? I found some sources for other organizations who pay bicycle mileage reimbursement, plus calculated my own expenses. Somehow the organization I was working for at the time came up with a number of 21 cents per mile, but I have no idea where they got that from.

I do most of my errands by bicycle, including work errands, and it [...]

KC Suicide Survivors – SASS MOKan grant report

David — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:39:35 +0000

SASS MO-Kan, a group of KC Suicide Survivors gives this thanks for our funding last year.

This group of KC Suicide Survivors was one of our 2011 Beneficiaries. Here is their final report from their funding last year.

Some of the 350 participants at the SASS-MoKan walk for KC Suicide Survivors

SASS- MoKan utilized the grant from Bike 4 the Brain to help KC Suicide Survivors in the following ways: We were able to provide a Day of Healing on February 20, 2011, with thirty-five participants MTTI offered chair massages Cleveland Chiropractic did body assessments Joy Daly and Tom Jacobs gave full body massages Yoga, music, art therapy, journaling, and aromatherapy were provided SASS gave a donation to Boulevard Yoga for building use, refreshments were provided for participants, a donation to the scholarship fund, for Cleveland Chiropractic and MTTI, SASS paid half of the book costs for Chicken [...]

Kansas City recovery stories from acoss the metro area

David — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:53:41 +0000

Cherie Bledsoe, Director of Bike for the Brain grant recipient SIDE. Cherie used her Kansas City recovery stories to help pass a constitutional amendment protecting voting rights for people with mental health diagnoses. Shown with Rick Cagan of NAMI-KS.

Many people in the metro area have great Kansas City recovery stories to tell!

At Bike for the Brain, one of our most important messages is that all people can recover from a mental health diagnosis. Often the most disabling part of the experience is becoming labeled and losing hope. People have many ideas about psychiatric labels based on media exposure and their past experiences, and much of what is currently out there is not positive. Stigma is a word that has been used in the past to describe this kind of discrimination and prejudice. An older method of promoting mental health awareness has aimed to let people know that [...]