October 4/06 10:21 am - Two Wheel Drive Program

Posted by Editor on 10/4/06
 

Two Wheel Drive Program - Sports Equipment Drive

The 2 Wheel Drive Program's Annual Sports Equipment Drive, will be held on Saturday, October 7th, 2006. The primary goal of the Drive is to collect gently used bicycles and other sports equipment that will be refurbished and then donated to children across the GTA from low-income communities.

The 2 Wheel Drive program is a federally funded project that partners with Canadian Tire, the Toronto Police Service, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Ontario Cycling Association and numerous other corporate and community supporters. The unique program assists unemployed youth in preparing for, obtaining and maintaining employment. These unemployed youth face tremendous social and economic barriers, and require extensive support.

The youth spend six months performing repairs to bicycles, conducting numerous bikes drives and participating in bike rodeos which teach bike safety rules to children. Every year for the past 11 years, a remarkable and dedicated group of 18 youth participate in a program that provides over 500 children from low-income households with the opportunity to obtain a free refurbished bicycle and helmet. This year the 2 Wheel Drive Program is extending the scope of the program to include all sports equipment.

You can drop off your used sports equipment and gently used bikes on Saturday October 7th from 10 am until 2 pm at one of the following locations:

-Woodbine Race Track (555 Rexdale Blvd)
-Yorkdale Mall, (parking lot)
-Scarborough Town Centre (parking lot)
-32 Division of the Toronto Police Service (30 Ellerslie Ave. Yonge Street South of Finch)
-Fairview Mall (parking lot)

Your support of this initiative would be greatly appreciated. For more information please call 416.395.6475.

The media launch for this event was held Monday (October 2nd) at Nathan Philips Square in Downtown Toronto. The OCA, in support and promotion of this great cause, held a contest for the media. We wanted to find out who could pump up a BMX tire the fastest and there were some amazing results.

OCA's Jamie Beblow officiates the tire inflation contents between the Toronto Argo and Blue Jay mascots. Ted Woloshyn from CFRB looks on.

Results of the media tire inflation contest:

Men
1. Jim Boyle (Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113)
2. Councillor Mark Grimes
3. Sandy Hawley (horse jockey)

Women
1. Argo Cheerleader
2. Jane Brown (CFRB)
3. Councilor Shelley Carroll