A reminder for this Saturday

NELA Bikes Toy Drive

This Holiday season, Santa is bringing good cheer and presents sans the

reindeer. How will Santa deliver toys and gifts to needy families this

year without his trusty reindeer, you may ask? On a bicycle of course!

North East Los Angeles Bikes (NELABikes) -- a small group of folks who

like to ride their bikes instead of drive cars, is putting on The Toy

“NOT” Drive Ride which meets November 12th at Noon at the Heritage

Square/Arroyo Goldline Station. Everyone is welcome to bring their

bikes, skateboards, rollerblades or any other form of human powered

transportation.

Bring gifts with you to donate to the Hathaway Family Resource Center,

where the ride will end. The mission of the Center is to support

families in their healthy development and growth in order to provide a

safe and nurturing environment for their children. The Center does this

by offering a variety of programs on site and in schools throughout the

Northeast Los Angeles area. Riders carrying stuffed teddy bears, toys,

movie passes, gift certificates,DVD’s and a whole assortment of gift

will cruise the streets of North East LA for a festive celebration of

sustainable transportation, community building, and enrichment, and

best of all, giving to those in need. “It’s a little twist on

traditional toy drives -- Instead of people getting in their cars and

driving all alone to a drop off point, we wanted to do something in our

community that was social and environmentally responsible”, informed

Shay, one of the members of NELA Bikes. And given the LA Weekly’s

recent issue dedicated to LA’s poor air quality titled “The Air We

Breathe, What You Can’t See Can Kill You”, their timing could not be

more appropriate.

Riders are asked not only to bring gifts, but to also dress up for the

occasion. ”We need Santa’s, lots of Santa’s on bikes, elf's too!”, said

Jeff another enthusiastic member of NELA Bikes.