girl scouts of the colonial coast
“I like to ride bikes with my family, and noticed that new
bike lanes were appearing,” Elsa said. “But I also saw that not a lot of
people were using them, so I wanted to help spread the word and encourage
people to ride their bikes.”
At the kickoff event, the bikers split up into two
groups—younger children and their parents when on a 30-minute ride that stayed
close to Blair Middle School, and the older children and their parents took a
4-mile ride, starting along Colley Avenue. Along the ride, participants were
briefed on safety rules and practiced the correct way to ride in and around
traffic. After the ride, representatives from Bike Norfolk handed out bike
safety activity books, bumper stickers, bike stickers and bike lights to the
participants. Bikers also shared their feedback about the bike lanes, and many
of the bikers who went on the ride were looking forward to using the lanes
again soon.
Elsa's project was supported by the Norfolk Department of Parks and Recreation and Norfolk City Council Member Andria McClellan. Thelma Drake, assistant director of transportation at the City of Norfolk, stopped by Kinnear’s event to see the bikers off on their ride. Drake thanked Kinnear for her hard work and told her that her efforts have been a force for helping to promote Bike Norfolk.
Elsa developed the Explore Bike Norfolk patch and planned the National Bike Month event to earn the Girl Scout Bronze Award, which is the third highest award girls can earn in Girl Scouting.
Check www.gsccc.org soon for patch requirements and purchased the patch in the GSCCC shops.
