How About Spreading Some Christmas Cheer This Year?

There's no doubt that Christmas is a time of giving but two things certainly are worth giving to more than anything else.

Bikes of all sorts left

Port Melbourne

 with tonnes of toys.

Christmas is a time when many people go without, many of these are children who come from underprivilaged families.  Almost 35 years ago 40 motorcyclists in Melbourne decided it was their duty to do something about the kids who were not going to be able to celebrate Christmas like many others.

Through the Salvation Army this quickly spread and is now a worldwide event that takes place every year.  Over 200,000 motorcyclists around the world have now taken part and donated toys and money to those who most need it ... the true meaning of Christmas.

Again I took part and rode up the Tullarmarine and Calder Freeway's to Calder Park to do my litle biut and donate to the cause.  It was a great day and one that seems to make the whole point of Christmas a little more special.  I suggest that any biker take part in a toy run wherever they can, it really does make a difference.

Another great cause is Riders For Health.  While reading the biography of Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman's epic ride from the northern most tip of Scotland to southern most Africa I couldn't help but be touched by their story of the riders in a number of African nations who ride out to remote villages and not only assess the health of the local people but also teach them about health and what the people can do to manage their own health.

Riders for Health manages over 1,400 motorcycles, ambulances and other four-wheel vehicles used in the delivery of health care in seven countries across Africa.

They work with ministries of health, international and African non-governmental organisations (NGOs), private-sector organisations, local community-based organisations and religious groups, to improve access to health care for 12 million people. As a social enterprise, they charge their partners a not-for-profit fee to ensure the sustainability of the programmes.

At the core of their work is both training and preventive vehicle maintenance. By running reliable vehicle fleets, they ensure that the chain in health care delivery is never broken by failing vehicles thereby increasing health worker productivity. It is also far cheaper to keep a vehicle running efficiently over time than to repair it when it breaks down completely.

Their programmes provide training and employment opportunities to build local capacity. Their network of highly skilled technicians regularly travels to service vehicles in the communities in which health workers serve. This means they don’t waste valuable time travelling to a garage when they could be with their patients.

In addition to training health workers to drive safely in the difficult terrain, they also train them to carry out daily checks on their vehicle.

The majority of the population of sub-Saharan Africa live in rural areas where the best roads are little more than dirt tracks. Public transport is infrequent and delivering health care on foot or by bicycle between sparse villages is an exhausting and ineffective task.

Put simply, without reliable transport the millions of dollars that is invested in vaccines, drugs, bed-nets, condoms and trained health professionals every year will be wasted because they will fail to get to where they are needed on time.

I know this is far removed from where we are in our comfortable homes with healthcare just around the corner which makes it even more important to support something like Riders For Health because everyone deserves the very basic of healthcare.

Why not make a donation to them this Christmas?  Or for more information check out www.riders.org