Bikes Across Borders 20th Anniversary Tour
Donation protected
Bikes Across Borders’ mission is three-fold: Keep resources out of the waste stream and put them to use, foster solidarity across political borders and promote cycling as a viable and fun mode of transportation.
Bikes Across Borders (BxB) was founded in winter 2001 by a group of activists who participated in a migration to the U.S./Mexico border. Members transported about 100 bikes for donation on a flatbed trailer to the border. Upon arrival, the activists were informed they would have to pay a large import tax for each bike brought over from the U.S. Though their bikes weren’t for sale, the activists had to be creative in order to get them across the Rio Grande. With the help of 25 volunteers from both sides of the border, BxB’s founders spent the entire day riding each bike into Mexico one by one — and a moniker was born.
Along the Texas-Mexico border, a bike is more than just a fun, convenient, free way to get around. For factory workers along the border, it provides an alternative to the company bus, which workers are expected to pay for from their meager wages. Over the years BxB members have rescued at least 700 discarded bikes from a bleak landfill future, delivering them to marginalized communities all over North America.
Bikes Across Borders depends on grants, donations, and the work of its passionate volunteers. Our primary beneficiaries are Zihuame Mochilla and Comité Fronterizo de Obrer@s (CFO-Border Committee of Workers).
Zihuame Mochilla’s primary objective is to work for better living conditions and reduce discrimination, marginalization and poverty rates within the indiginous communities of Monterrey, Nueveo Leon while preserving the culture of those communities.
The Comité Fronterizo de Obrer@s (CFO-Border Committee of Workers), located in Piedras Negras, is a grassroots organization that supports union democracy and workers rights in six cities along the Mexico-U.S. border. The main purpose of the CFO is to educate, organize and empower maquiladora workers to work towards the goal of improved working conditions and quality of life for workers in the maquiladoras, especially for women and their families.
The funds raised by this campaign will be used to first outfit the refurbished bikes with lights, locks, racks and basic repair kits to make them road ready. Any funds beyond that will be donated directly to the organizations in Mexico to support their missions of equality, reduction of poverty and discrimination, and workers rights. Direct aid donations like this go a long way in Mexico!
Bikes Across Borders will be making their annual migration, one way or another, in mid May 2021. That’s just TWO MONTHS to make the biggest impact we can. It’s our 20th anniversary as a collective and we’d be forever grateful for your help in making this our most impactful migration yet.
Donate today! Reach out to us directly if you’d like to donate a bike, if you’re a mechanic and want to help fix up bikes or you’d like to join the collective and participate.
Bikes Across Borders (BxB) was founded in winter 2001 by a group of activists who participated in a migration to the U.S./Mexico border. Members transported about 100 bikes for donation on a flatbed trailer to the border. Upon arrival, the activists were informed they would have to pay a large import tax for each bike brought over from the U.S. Though their bikes weren’t for sale, the activists had to be creative in order to get them across the Rio Grande. With the help of 25 volunteers from both sides of the border, BxB’s founders spent the entire day riding each bike into Mexico one by one — and a moniker was born.
Along the Texas-Mexico border, a bike is more than just a fun, convenient, free way to get around. For factory workers along the border, it provides an alternative to the company bus, which workers are expected to pay for from their meager wages. Over the years BxB members have rescued at least 700 discarded bikes from a bleak landfill future, delivering them to marginalized communities all over North America.
Bikes Across Borders depends on grants, donations, and the work of its passionate volunteers. Our primary beneficiaries are Zihuame Mochilla and Comité Fronterizo de Obrer@s (CFO-Border Committee of Workers).
Zihuame Mochilla’s primary objective is to work for better living conditions and reduce discrimination, marginalization and poverty rates within the indiginous communities of Monterrey, Nueveo Leon while preserving the culture of those communities.
The Comité Fronterizo de Obrer@s (CFO-Border Committee of Workers), located in Piedras Negras, is a grassroots organization that supports union democracy and workers rights in six cities along the Mexico-U.S. border. The main purpose of the CFO is to educate, organize and empower maquiladora workers to work towards the goal of improved working conditions and quality of life for workers in the maquiladoras, especially for women and their families.
The funds raised by this campaign will be used to first outfit the refurbished bikes with lights, locks, racks and basic repair kits to make them road ready. Any funds beyond that will be donated directly to the organizations in Mexico to support their missions of equality, reduction of poverty and discrimination, and workers rights. Direct aid donations like this go a long way in Mexico!
Bikes Across Borders will be making their annual migration, one way or another, in mid May 2021. That’s just TWO MONTHS to make the biggest impact we can. It’s our 20th anniversary as a collective and we’d be forever grateful for your help in making this our most impactful migration yet.
Donate today! Reach out to us directly if you’d like to donate a bike, if you’re a mechanic and want to help fix up bikes or you’d like to join the collective and participate.
Organizer
Tawny Villain
Organizer
Austin, TX