Hi everyone, Ashleigh Johnson and Makenzie Fischer here from the USA Women’s Water Polo Team! Right now, we’re GEAR-ing up for Tokyo 2020 in the pool, and we’re also WHEEL-y excited about a new project we’re currently working on… We’re doing something that we think is really cool and hope you do too! Enough suspense— we’re currently in the process of designing and constructing a sustainable bike made out of bamboo! As we build, we will be using this page to raise money for Mercer Street Friends, a cause that’s close to our hearts. Mercer Street Friends is a community-building program in Trenton, New Jersey that offers resources for children, families, and communities to overcome poverty and its lasting effects.   Our goal is to raise $6,000. This money will be put towards their Community Schools Initiative for their students at Rivera Community Middle Schools. Our USA Women’s Water Polo Team had the opportunity to meet and spend the day with some of these incredible middle schoolers and it made a lasting impact on our team. We set out with the intention to inspire, but rather left feeling inspired by the amount of hope, drive, and potential we saw in these children. Let’s switch gears—we want to tell you a little bit about who we’re building this bike for. During our visit to Mercer Street Friends, we had the young women that we met write their lofty dreams on a whiteboard. The board was covered in dreams like,  “I want to be a veterinarian”, “I’m going to be a mechanic, “My dream is to give kids more opportunities” ”My dream is to meet Steph Curry”,  “I want to be president because I want to give back to people in need…” “My dream is to change the world and to empower people” The bike we build will go to one of these girls who have inspired us with their dreams and who hopefully learned something from the stories we shared about chasing our own dreams.  As we build, we’ll post regular updates about the progress of the bike on our social media pages (@makenziefishy and @ashleighjohnson). Please donate and share this story with your family and friends to help Mercer Street Friends continue to give these children and their families better access to opportunity and the tools they need to realize their dreams! Well, it’s time to roll…

Jenn McCall

David Lillycrop

Chris Thompson

Nancy Atufunwa

Maria Del Toro 

Nanci Prado

Anonymous

Jordan Raney

Roemer  Family

Alys Williams 

Kevin Struss

Paige Hauschild

Kaleigh Gilchrist

Jack Koll

Dave and Hailey Ferguson

Patricia Fischer

Bike Build for Mercer Street Friends

Bike Build for Mercer Street Friends

Still $4,435 to go. Help us build momentum.