FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: SARAH EHLERS
(706) 369-8031 or
TODD BAKER
(706) 546-5930
Barrow Elementary Safe Routes Team Leaders
or KRIS BOUDREAU
Safe Routes Athens coordinator
(706) 369-6776
www.saferoutesathens.com
September 28 2006
Barrow Elementary School to Celebrate
International Walk and Bike to School Month in October
October 6 is Walk and Bike to School Day at Barrow Elementary School
Event promotes health, safety, physical activity, and concern for the environment
Barrow Elementary School in Athens will be joining 38 Georgia public schools and thousands of schools across the country to celebrate International Walk to School Month in October. Barrow has chosen October 6, 2006, as the day when students will show the people of Athens that they can get to school with their own fuel. Students will begin arriving at the school at 7:15 a.m.
International Walk and Bike to School events at Barrow are part of Safe Routes Athens, a Safe Routes to School program aimed at improving the health and wellbeing of children by enabling and encouraging them to walk and bicycle to school.
Last year, at the inauguration of Safe Routes Athens, well over 100 kids —fully one-third of the school population— walked or bicycled to school. Considering that in 1968 48% of school children regularly walked or bicycled to school, last year’s Barrow turnout was a remarkable accomplishment, one that the Barrow community hopes to meet or surpass this year.
Now in its tenth year, the International Walk to School program is expected to include 3,000 schools from all 50 states. The idea is to walk and bicycle to school together with a purpose —to promote health, safety, physical activity, and concern for the environment. School kids and adults from the U.S. will join millions of children from 40 other countries around the world. The Friday event is part of a month of festivities celebrating International Walk to School Month in October.
Later this fall, members of Bike Athens who have recently earned the prestigious certification of League Cycling Instructor from the League of American Bicyclists, the 125 year-old national bicycling organization, will begin offering bicycle education classes for interested parents and children. They will also offer classes in Bike Ed for adults.
Community sponsors who donated items and services to enhance the Barrow Walk and Bike to School event include:
- St. James United Methodist Church
- EarthFare
- Kroger
- Five Points Deli
Caryn Demarest, Barrow Physical Education teacher and a member of the Safe Routes Athens Task Force (296-7827) says this of the Safe Routes Athens program:
“I’m thrilled to be part of this project. I truly believe in keeping our own bodies fit and healthy. Not just for ourselves, but so that we as adults can be role models for our children. I also believe that it is our responsibility as a community to make available every opportunity possible for our children to have safe places to exercise and play. Athens is the perfect community for a relationship such as this to take place and I would love to see everyone support this project and take part in it as the needs arise.”
For information about Safe Routes Athens, please visit
www.saferoutesathens.com
For a complete list of participating countries, please visit http://www.iwalktoschool.org/whoswalking/
For photos of IWALK activities from around the world, please visit http://www.iwalktoschool.org/quotes
For information about the League of American Bicyclists’ Bike Ed Program, please visit
http://www.bikeleague.org/programs/education/
For country-specific media contacts, please visit http://www.iwalktoschool.org/whoswalking/ to view phone numbers and email addresses for coordinators in each country
.
