Romagna Floods – Help for EP and BikesPlus Staff

On May 16th and 17th Faenza, Ravenna, Forli and Cesena provinces were drastically affected by terrible floods when 20+ rivers broke their banks and flooded towns and fields when 20 inches of rain fell in about 36 hours. Thousands of people have been displaced as their homes were destroyed while hundreds and thousands of acres of fields were flooded. This is the home to BikesPlus, the European sister company to ExperiencePlus! and is our base from which we deploy all of our operations for cycling trips in Europe. This is also where I, Monica, live with my family.

Our office and warehouse were not touched by flood waters and personally I (Monica) have not been impacted. However three people in our close group of staff and tour leaders were dramatically impacted by this natural disaster. Stefania (staff) and Ilaria (tour leader) lost most of their belongings as their houses were fully immersed. Silvia (staff) lost her car as it was in an area that was fully submerged by the water and had extensive building damage to her condo complex.

For those who have traveled to this region on our trips, our old headquarters known as the “farm” was surrounded by flood waters but was not damaged and in fact now is housing a number of people who were displaced, including Stefania and her husband (and cat!).

With this fundraiser we hope to reach our greater community to help Silvia, Stefania and Ilaria with some of the expenses related to household repairs. Unfortunately, comprehensive insurance is not common in Italy (apparently 90% of Italians do not have any insurance that would cover these damages), and it is unclear what support will come from government and other entities.

We are relieved and inspired by the energy and effort put into clean up and support from everyone around us. Our team is partially remote and they all came to help our staff and neighbors in the past weeks by procuring generators and power washers, shoveling mud, and doing strangers' laundry. Additionally, volunteers from all over have flocked to help the region.

Thanks for any help you can provide! As the local dialect says, "Tin Bota" or "Hang on" – and we feel that with your help we are not hanging on so precariously!