There was a great turnout from Rotary and The County Council and Fr. Sean Devereux also attended. In addition to various Members of our club, Dave Murray our district Governor, Mike Connolly our assistant District Governor and Jason Dempsey who is in charge of the bikes for Africa project for Rotary nationally all joined for the programme.
This is a partnership project between Rotary, the County Council, the Irish prison service and the defence forces. Wexford is the 15th local Authority Depot to be established in counties around Ireland.
The county council facilitates the collection of the bikes at various waste disposal sites around Ireland. Prisoners recondition the bikes and by all accounts love to work on the project. The defence forces transport the bikes to Africa. Rotary leads and organises the project and works with the different stakeholders in Ireland and Africa, including Caritas Gambia on the project. Each bike helps a student. The project is more than about giving a bike. It opens a dialogue about the importance of education on the ground and makes a better education more accessible – opening the door to a brighter future for each student and their family. A bike also is a wonderful asset in a village and can be important for people to get critical things done for the good of the community. John Casey is currently the project lead for the Rotary Club of Wexford. Helen also did work behind the scenes to prepare the ground for the launch yesterday during her term as President.
Well done to John, Helen, Eddie and all who have contributed to the success of the project thus far.
Fr. Sean Devereux will speak on Monday September 27th at 10 am with Alan Corcoran about the project on South East Radio.
For more infomation click here
How can you help?
I ask each of you to check out your own garage to see if you have a bike that may be suitable that you no longer need. And I also ask you to spread the word to your friends, colleagues and neighbours. Specifications of what is needed are below and in the attached flyer.
Wexford County Council
Schools Bikes Africa Project with Rotary Wexford Branch and Wexford County Council.
Wexford County Council together with Rotary Wexford Branch, Rotary Ireland, The Defence Forces and the Irish Prison Service are appealing for the donation of unwanted bikes for the School Bikes Africa Initiative. The Project has been running for over 6 years nationally lead by Rotary Ireland and with the co-operation and assistance of Local Authorities, the Department of Environment Climate and Communications (DECC), the Defence Forces and the Prison Service over 5,000 bikes have been collected, repaired and shipped to Africa to countries such as the Gambia where school students use the bikes to enable them to access education often over distances greater than 10 kilometres to their schools.
- In seeking unwanted bikes Wexford County Council require;
- Strong sturdy bikes capable of withstanding rough terrain.
- Bicycles that would suit primary or secondary school students.
- Bicycles with mountain bike type-tyres.
- Bicycles with a minimum tyre size of 24 inches.
The bicycles can be left into any of the Council’s 4 Household Recycling Centres in Gorey, Enniscorthy, New Ross and Holmestown, Barntown, Wexford during opening hours of
08.15-12.00 and 13.00-16.00 Tuesday to Friday and 08.15-12.00 13.00-15.00 on Saturday from Thursday 16th September through to Friday 17th December, 2021