Need Cycling Clothes for Girls

[velogirl]

I haven't received anything other than email from Kenneth either. But it occurred to me, did you all send him an itemized donation list along with your name and mailing address? If not, he won't be able to follow-up with you.

Lorri

[emily_in_nc]

I haven't received anything other than email from Kenneth either.

Wow, I wonder why I seem to be the only one who got a nice hand-written letter from one of the girls in the class? Maybe they're doing a letter a week?

[Selkie]

Emily, in mid-Feb, I got handwritten, personal, sweet thank you notes from two of the girls. It meant a lot to me to know how much the clothing made a difference for them.

[Aint Doody]

I sent an itemized list with my name and address. I was happy to send things, but I at least would have liked some sort of acknowledgement.

[Biciclista]

i sent him an email. you might notice earlier in this thread that he does mention having received stuff from us; maybe he thought that was sufficient.
If he writes back, i'll let you know.

[Kenneth Walker]

Ladies,

I got an email from both Lorri Lee Lown and Mimi Boothy, in reference to the clothing donations you all have made to the Wheels Can Take Me Places Project I am working on here in Kansas City. As both my honor and integrity are on the line, know that both are important to me and the work that I try and do, so I wanted to address your inquiries and concerns. I have much appreciation for you all, and the hundreds of others who have followed your lead- and I want to do whatever I need to do to make sure that those who feel slighted have no bad feelings in their effort to help this project.

First, let me say that perhaps one of you could be designated as a contact person with whom I can communicate with to keep you all updated on the project you have donated to. I have posted, since February 2009, both my own personal thanks, updates and pictures- all about your specific donations, on my website, www.UrbanKCcc.com , so that you can actually see and hear about the excitement generated when the kids recieved equipment. I mention Team Estrogen BY NAME, as it would not be feasible to list every name of every person. PLEASE, take a look and see the pics of kids receiving and wearing equipment donated by your group. I also have made sure to post information about the Team Estrogen donations, along with pictures, on Facebook, sharing it with my 1,630+ Facebook friends across the country and world. I'll bet that if you have friends on Facebook that are cyclists, some of them have heard about it.

I feel like I should explain myself. While some people have the impression that I am the lead of a very large organization, that is not the case. I am a guy whose family has allowed him to retire from the world of regular employment to pursue working in the community with youth, using cycling as the catylst. In those efforts, people like yourself, for no other reason other than to help out, have worked with me, just as you have, to provide the best of situations for youth, in becoming involved with cycling.

In the time since I received your donations, I have given away 15 brand new bicycles to youth, I also have two other cycling programs at two other schools going at the same time. Also, I serve on the Bike/Ped Advisory Committee for my city, am the Missouri State Ambassador for the League of American Bicyclists, and am training and racing in my second season. I am also the father of 4 children and my first grandson arrived just two days ago. My point being, I have much going on, so please forgive me for not being in a position to respond to each of you individually.

Also, I am not, nor is the Urban Kansas City Community of Cycling, a not-for-profit organization. There are those of you that have asked for a reciept from me, I am assuming for tax purposes, however, a reciept from me would mean little, if anything, if that is the intent.

While you all have been very kind in sending clothing and equipment to Kansas City, and I appreciate that, and made sure to respond to you all in this very forum, you need to know and understand that the donations are not really being made to Kenneth Walker, but to Scuola Vita Nouvea and their students. The agreement between myself and the school is that I would be the receiver of donations, making sure that they get the donations and donor information, and they would respond to each of you, with a handwritten letter from one of the kids, thanking you. And really, I would think that you all would agree that that is how it should be done.

I know for a fact that some of you have been sent letters, and I would speculate that more will be received...as I stated before, this is the agreement I have with the school and also part of the programming in the project. We are talking about a teacher and group of 7th grade children, at a charter school in the urban core of Kansas City, that knows nothing about cycling, the significance of your donations or the clothing they have received. They are however, starting to realize how big of a thing it is.

Trust me when I say that I am diligent in making sure that they get the info on not just your donations, but the many other donations that have come in. In my conversations with the teacher, she assures me that all donations will be acknowledged. Also, I have mentioned the issue of reciepts for those who have asked, which I think is only one person, however I am not sure how they will handle that. I do know that the school is a not-for-profit organization.

What I will do is to have another discussion with the school and the students. I will do my best to speed up the process so that you will be acknowledge by them for your donations in a more timely manner.

Again, if you could designate someone whom I could funnel updates and pics to, I could make sure that you all are assured that equipment is being used. Also, every person that has donated, if you give that person your contact information, I will personally take the time to send each of you an acknowledgement of such and if you want it, a receipt for every peice of clothing or equipment. Despite my agreement with the school, I feel that this is my fault and want to do whatever it takes to make you all feel better about it.

Best Regards,
Kenneth Walker

[Biciclista]

I have pictures; I'll post them in a few hours!

[Selkie]

Ken, thanks for all that you are doing for these kids. You have made a difference in their lives and serve as a role model to all.

[Biciclista]

[Aint Doody]

This is just great. I saw 2 of my jerseys I sent in one of the pictures. I'm so glad that the children can make use of these items. My intent in my post was not to criticize Kenneth or the project. I just wondered where things were regarding this project. And I would still like to have a receipt -- if possible.

[Eden]

I see a couple of our jerseys in the photos too - good to know the package made it! I was a little afraid it might have burst.... the box was a tad too small....

No one I collected from needs a receipt, just nice to know everything did arrive, so thanks for the photos!

[Biciclista]

Kenneth wrote to me last night:

maybe you and they will like this, the first time this young lady rode her bicycle... before this day last week, she was scared to death to try and ride a bike...but she just hops on and goes like it's nothing...made my heart leap...

know that I appreciate you all

[velogirl]

Hey Kenneth! Rather than designating one TE contact (since we're all over the planet), I might suggest you just check in here on the forum once in a while. Post some photos, let us know how the kids are doing, report on their rides, etc. In addition to keeping everyone @ TE informed, it would also serve as secondary PR for your program (since this forum is a permanent, public forum and ranked high in google search results).

Lorri

[ASammy1]

The kids look great! Great pics and thanks for sharing

[ClickIn]

Yippee! I sent a box of stuff a while ago. Just happened upon the pictures today and now I have the biggest smile on my face!!!