Adopt a blind cyclist

Seeking three registered charities for the blind and disabled to affiliate with a state or national bicycle organisation for the purpose of jointly (progressively) writing to the CEO's of Australia's 150 largest companies inviting them to enquire if they have a blind or disabled employee who would like to ride a tandem or hand cycle, where -
(a)   employees of that company donate between 50% and 90% of the cost of the bicycle, and
(b)   a bicycle organisation sources a local bicycle group to assist the blind/disabled person to/during/from weekend rides.
Below business plan -
(i)    requires 100% of tax deductible donations to go to the bicycle for the disabled/blind person; and
(ii)   is self-auditing so there is zero slippage of donations.
This project seeks to put the names of the 3 charities and a bicycle organisation in front of 150 of the most influential senior executives in the country, plus many of the associated staff social/welfare clubs enquiring if their company has a candidate. Donation raising will be the province of those staff social/welfare clubs which take up the invitation to assist one of their own work colleague.

The three charities (for the blind and disabled) merely have to -

(I) issue tax deductible receipts; and

(II) ensure every dollar donated goes towards the bicycle purchased for the blind or disabled person.

The bicycle organisation will be responsible to source a local bicycle group willing to assist a blind or disabled person keen to improve his/her quality of life.
This campaign to assist less fortunate will provide positive publicity for the three charities and bicycle organisation during an era when many people are concerned about the high percentage of each dollar they donate being absorbed by admin costs.

3. SEEKING REGISTERED CHARITIES FOR THE BLIND AND DISABLED TO ALIGN WITH "ADOPT A BLIND OR DISABLED CYCLIST", PREDICATED UPON PHIL JOHNSTON PROVIDING LONG TERM MATERIAL ASSISTANCE

Recreational road tandem cycling is uniquely suited to vision impaired people participating in cardio-vascular exercise with able bodied people. There are very few sports where a blind person can rely upon someone else's eyes. This Adopt a Blind Cyclist initiative invites the support of a few well-known registered charities to create a joint imprimatur to induce industry leaders from amongst Australia's largest companies to invite their employees to Adopt a Blind Cyclist by donating at least 50% of the cost of each tandem where -

I. each interested company is invited to source a blind person from within its own employees, their families or the company's clients;

II. employees can meet and follow the progress (via URL's to internet pages) of the particular blind person they agree to adopt by contributing towards the cost of a tandem bicycle;

III. employees can donate between 50% and 90% of the cost of the tandem (depending on the blind person's own capacity to contribute) directly into the charity's nominated bank account, with the blind person contributing the remaining cost of their tandem cycle; and

Once the full cost of each tandem is deposited in the registered charity's bank account, that associated charity would -

(i) place an order for each tandem with either an Australian distributor or directly with a Taiwan or China manufacturer - Phil Johnston offers to obtain competitive prices;

(ii) pay the full cost of each tandem to the supplier;

(iii) issue a tax deductible receipt to each 3rd party donor for their donation; and

(iv) confirm that the blind person took receipt of their new tandem or hand cycle.

The above contribution model is self-auditing because the employees of large companies are invited to donate to assist a fellow employee who is blind by assisting that person purchase a tandem. 100% of donations go only twds the cost if each tandem or hand cycle. No percent of donations is expended on administration. All donations are tax deductible.

The above model can equally apply to similarly assist a work colleague who is disabled say due to an accident where the employee has become a paraplegic however, that colleague can still ride a hand cycle using his arms to propel the hand cycle. An Australian paraplegic, John McLean, has completed the Hawaii IronMan which includes a 180 cycle, where John rode a hand cycle. Click on Testimonial from Peter Allen who became a paraplegic 6 years ago and rides a Hand Cycle in WA and appreciates the freedom it provides. Phil has also spoken with Nick Morrozoff 0417 378.707, a paraplegic and long time Hand Cyclist, who works in the rehab industry and imports Hand Cycles.

Just as industrial, motor car and sporting accidents can damage a spine, the same disasters can involve amputation of a damaged limb. Other people are simply born without a limb(s). Amputees quality of life and opportunity to experience mainstream sports that most of us take for granted may be limited, as may be their capacity to purchase a special bicycle. Amputees United of Australia Inc. or Amputee Association of Sydney Inc may be a charity interested in joining forces with a charity for the blind and a charity for spinal injuries to jointly approach the CEO's of very large companies about assisting one of their employees improve his/her quality of life. In an era where the top 1% of very large companies earn an increasingly disproportionate share of the wealth those companies create, the same top management like nothing better than to be seen to be assisting injured or disabled people, particularly if the person(s) they are assisting are employees. CEO's are highly focused on assisting employees under their control who are disadvantaged. This pilot project enables a simple mechanism to provide tangible assistance. Phil Johnston has previously spoken to a few reps of Blind Citizens Australia which may be interested in aligning itself with Adopt a Blind Cyclist.

The writer undertakes to assist all registered charities (associated with the blind or other disability groups) which opt to affiliate with Adopt a Blind Cyclist by -

(A) providing a draft letter (with the logos of the three charities and the logo of the bicycle association to be sent to very large Australian companies inviting the CEO to promote Adopt a Blind (or Disabled) Cyclist within his/her company by enquiring if a vision impaired or disabled employee, relative or client would like to ride a tandem or hand cycle with an established recreational bicycle group;

(i) representatives of each company (in Sydney) which responds in the affirmative [to (A) above];

(ii) the blind or disabled person nominated who would like to ride a tandem or hand cycle; and

(iii) launch the collection for between 50% and 90% of the cost of the tandem or hand cycle (between $2,100 and $4,000 - hand cycles are not cheap).

The 18 month Pilot entails a few registered charities agreeing to be involved with Adopt a Blind Cyclist by creating a joint letterhead featuring their charity's logo, predicated on Phil Johnston assisting with preparation of letters/phone calls to, and meetings with -

(I) employees of between 15 and 20 companies in NSW asking them to donate between 50% and 90% (depending on the income of the blind person) of the cost of each tandem or hand cycle directly into the joint charity's nominated bank account; and

(II) between 15 and 20 recreational road cycling groups in NSW (50% in country towns) to each "Adopt a Blind (or Disabled) Cyclist" or two.

(2.) Enthuse a few registered charities which are associated with the blind or disabled to agree to the above structure and provide a tax deductible receipt to 3rd parties (companies and their employees) who donate at least half the cost of each tandem or hand cycle. The charity would have no counterparty risk as the charity would not order the tandem or hand cycle until the full cost of each machine was credited to the charity's nominated bank account.

(4.) The charity send letters to a sample of very large companies inviting their employees to Adopt a Blind (or Disabled) Cyclist from amongst their own personnel. (Phil Johnston is prepared to approach people he knows who work for a dozen or so very large companies to commence the Pilot programme and thereby "create some precedent or crystalise a few adoptions.")

At end-2007, the charity can appraise the success of the above pilot/trial in NSW with the intention to propagate to other states -

(A) in view of the high number of vision impaired and disabled people in Australia (population stats of blind people in Australia and NSW are listed in item 11. below); and

6. BENEFITS AND COSTS TO THE CHARITY OF TAKING CARRIAGE OF ADOPT A BLIND CYCLIST DURING 18 MONTHS PILOT PHASE

The charity would enjoy favourable exposure to some of the largest companies in Australia for facilitating their employees to assist a disabled person materially improve their quality of life. That blind person may be -

Approx 20 hours for management of charity to collectively appraise information herein. Not more than 3 hours a fortnight thereafter to attend a donations launch per fortnight, issue receipts and place orders for tandems or hand cycles. Out-of-pockets should not exceed $15 a week, as postage and travelling to interested companies (when in Sydney metropolitan area) seems the only costs.

15. PILOT PROGRAMME TO NOTCH-UP A FEW SUCCESS (IE. GET SOME RUNS ON THE BOARD)

Thru his job as a Relationship Banker at CBA, Phil Johnston knows a few senior execs amongst Sydney's top firms who are dedicated cyclists. Phil is confident that firms such as Allen Arthur Robinson, Mallesons Stephen Jaques, Sydney Airport and Leighton Holdings will be comfortable to participate in a Pilot of "Adopt a Blind (or Disabled) Cyclist", whereupon those firms will seek to identify an employee which is blind or otherwise disabled that -

(ii) a State or national bicycle organisation will seek to source a local bicycle group to assist the disable employee participate in its weekend bike rides.

The success and enjoyment that the 4 blind people (mentioned in Section 1.and 2. above) evidenced whilst riding long distances up steep hills on the back of tandem bicycles, in a recreational bicycle group on Sydney's Northside, is testimony to the merit of this initiative. Tandem and hand cycling offers a unique opportunity for vision impaired and disabled to enjoys the types of physical and social activities many able bodied people take for granted. Other cyclists amongst Muggaccinos have embraced the participation of Sean, Lindy, and Toby thus far.

"Adopt a Blind (or Disabled) Cyclist" involves two distinct adoptions for two different purposes. This initiative requires -

(a) initially 3 registered charities for the blind and disabled to affiliate with a state or national bicycle association to jointly progressively write (letterhead featuring each charities logo) to the CEO's of Australia's largest companies (with Head office in Sydney) inviting their employees to donate to assist a fellow employee obtain a bicycle specific to their needs; and

(b) educating recreational cycle groups, initially via word-of-mouth and then an article in a cycle magazine, that taking responsibility for a blind or disabled cyclist in their neighbourhood will provide positive benefits to the ride group, which will easily outweigh the inconvenience of collecting and returning home (if/when the blind/disabled person cannot travel on his/her own).

Phil Johnston is prepared to take primary carriage for (b) above, and is prepared to assist with (a) above, however, the imprimatur of a few leading registered charities for the blind and disabled on the letters to CEO's is required.

Australia could lead the way in propagating a simple programme to integrate blind and disabled people into a growing mainstream cardio-vascular sport, namely 100km+ bicycle rides with the associated social and physical benefits of achieving goals in a domain previously thought beyond the ambit of blind and disabled people.

There isn't any downside to this initiative to assist Australians less fortunate than most of us, as even if only a handful of blind or disabled people are assisted by end 2007, the workload to write to leading companies inviting their participation is not material. And if interested, the particular company takes carriage for collecting the donations and ensuring their colleague receives their bicycle, and no donations slip thru the cracks. Certainly, it is necessary to source a local cycle group to ride as Pilot on each the tandem or assist the disabled person before/during/after rides. However, the five blind people Phil Johnston has ridden with have all exhibited remarkable resilience and independence. And the ride group has benefited from their participation.

Phil Johnston
Ride Organiser www.Muggaccinos.com
provider of www.KOMpm.com for cyclists who want safe, competitive, time trials up steep hill
0412 045 224