St. Louis Bike Fed wins two grants

Two local organizations have awarded a total of $4,000 in grants to the St. Louis Regional Bicycle Federation, a 150-member nonprofit organization devoted to making St. Louis a better place to bike.

The William A. Kerr Foundation has awarded the Bike Fed $2,000 for general operating expenses. The funds will be used to completely revise the www.stlbikefed.org, to create a site with all the tools transportational cyclists will need to get around. The grant is also paying for 2,000 copies of "Bike Parking for your Business" and for set up of a phone number for local cyclists to call. This is the second grant from the William A. Kerr Foundation, and brings to $6,000 the funds the Foundation has provided to the Bike Fed.

"We are grateful to the William A. Kerr Foundation for their support and investment in our advocacy work," said Bob Foster, chair of the Bike Fed. "In particular, thanks goes to our Board Member John Sweet, M.D., without whom these grants would not be possible."

The second grant is from Team St. Louis, a project of St. Louis 2004. The $2,000 will go to printing and distributing two brochures: "The Bike to Work Manual" and "The Bike to Work Guide". Previously, Team St. Louis awarded $2,500 to the Bike Fed for purchase of custom bike racks, which are now being installed throughout St. Louis.

"As a young organization, we are grateful to these two organizations for their investment in the Bike Federation, and for their support of making St. Louis a better place to bike," Foster said. "We hope that with these funds we can encourage more people to ride for pleasure, commuting and errands."

The St. Louis Regional Bicycle Federation is a 501c3 corporation. The Board is Chair Bob Foster, Vice Chair Martin Pion, Treasurer John Sweet, Secretary Russ Willis and Board Members Renee Duenow, Ben Hockenhull, Phoebe Love, Jason McClelland, Mike Murray, Luis Porello, Steve Sleet, Patrick Van Der Tuin, and Carrie Zukoski.