Ali Harper and her husband Tim have always been passionate cyclists, riding their bicycles on the job, in races, and just for fun.
After Tim, an RCMP officer, was transferred to Kugluktuk, Nunavut, for work, the couple still liked to get around by bike, despite the sometimes rugged terrain and unforgiving climate in the remote hamlet north of the Arctic Circle.
Harper — a former Calgary EMT now working as a youth co-ordinator — eventually became known around town as “the girl with the big-tire bike” and soon had children in the small community of 1,400 asking if they could join her.
On their first Saturday ride, a small group of kids showed up with bikes scrounged up from the dump, bikes in disrepair, missing parts or with flat tires. One youth didn’t have a bike, and ended up borrowing one much too big for his size. But that didn’t stop them from having fun, evident by the wide smiles on their faces.
That got the wheels turning in Harper’s head: what if she could get a bike for every kid in the community?
“Some of these kids have had a hard life,” she said, adding many of the children come from low-income families and lack positive role models. “If we can get the kids active, get them to focus on something like this, we can hopefully keep them out of trouble.”
She contacted her friend, Ron Uhlenberg, owner of Ridley’s Cycle in Calgary and asked if he had any bicycles to donate. She also shared a post on Facebook asking for donations. She then got in touch with Buffalo Airways to see if they would fly the donated bikes up to Nunavut.
Two weeks later, on Wednesday, the first shipment of 10 bikes arrived, much to the children’s excitement. And the program appears to be growing, said Harper, adding she has received countless messages from people in Calgary, Edmonton, and Invermere where she and her husband used to live, asking how they can help.
Ali Harper, formerly of Calgary, has started a program in Kugluktuk, Nunavut, where she gets donated bicycles from Calgary shipped to the northern community so that kids who may not have the chance to own a bike can still ride, keep active, and stay out of trouble.
“I have been so overwhelmed with the response from everyone over such a simple Facebook post, knowing that there are so many people wanting to help a northern community that most people will never have the chance or want to come and visit,” she said.
Uhlenberg said Ridley’s Cycle has been involved in similar bike donation programs in the past, including one at the Eden Valley Reserve.
“For me, it brings me back to learning how to ride a bike, enjoying the freedom that cycling gives you,” he said. “We had about half a dozen bikes that people had traded in, so we were happy to donate them.”
Greg Perdue, vice-president and general manager of Buffalo Air Express, said Buffalo Airways was also excited to get involved.
Perdue said the airline recently launched a new service to send a cargo plane up to Kugluktuk once a month to ship in supplies such as snowmobiles, quads and other much-needed “work machines.” Soon after, Harper approached him, asking how much it would cost to get the bikes flown up to Nunavut.
“She was talking about all the initiatives she was coming up with, keeping the kids busy, doing something outdoors. She had a sparkle in her eye,” he said. “I’ve got space and I’m not going to charge them for it. We always give back to our communities.”
Perdue said the airline has a truck that runs between Calgary and Edmonton, so he sent a driver to pick up the bikes from Ridley’s Cycle. The bikes were then taken to Yellowknife, and then flown up to Kugluktuk.
The next shipment is expected to go out in early July.
Harper said she her goal is to have a group of 20 to 25 kids meet every Saturday for long rides out of town, followed by a repair and maintenance workshop where the kids can learn how to fix up and take care of their bikes. She added she hopes she can serve as a positive influence in their life.
“I want to see those kids that cannot afford a bike be able to be given the chance to have their own, and be able to join us on our rides,” Harper said. “If the kids have something they feel they are a part of, I will try my hardest to make it as important to them as it is to me.”
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