Terlingua's Ride for Reading Delivery

A happy student at Terlingua Elementary receives a
book through our delivery thanks to the folks at Ride for Reading!

We were most fortunate, as part of our efforts to share our region's tremendous cycling assets with travelers, to work with the WONDERFUL folks at Team Ride for Reading and schedule book deliveries to the Fort Davis and Terlingua elementary schools.  The book deliveries were part of a trip with photographer Devon Balet, who is producing a short video for us of our regional mountain biking opportunities.  Stay tuned for that!

But our Ride for Reading days were all about connecting kids with books, and reinforcing healthy active lifestyles and reading.  In fact, we are so excited about this connection, we're looking into scheduling more book deliveries during Ride For Reading Week, May 5-11.

Terlingua cyclists with backpacks full of books,
on the way to the elementary school for the delivery

Once we learned of the opportunity to organize book deliveries, all we had to do was ask....We contacted the schools and local cyclists to see if they'd participate in the program and we received hearty and enthusiastic responses, "YES!"

Our friends at Big Bend Resorts and Adventures (which
has its own mountain biking trail on property) was the meeting point
for the volunteer riders

Ride For Reading's mission is to promote literacy and healthy living through the distribution of books via bicycle to children from low-income neighborhoods. In low-income neighborhoods, the ratio of books per child is 1 age-appropriate book for every 300 children. *Reading is an integral part of education, and without books it is hard to build a strong academic base. Our children need materials to read at home and it is our goal to provide the means.

The pledge each child takes upon receiving a book:

"I promise to read my book twice.
I will never ever....
Ever, ever, ever....
Ever, ever
Throw my book away.
I will pass it on to a friend....
Family member....
Neighbor....
Classmate....
Or someone else I know.
And I promise....
To be the best student for the rest of the year"

L to R:  Marfa Public Radio's Kate Yoland, Team Ride for Reading's
Joshua Smith, Chris Reichel, Dejay Birtch, Devon Balet, and
Texas Mountain Trail Executive Director, Beth Nobles
Listen to the archive edition of the interview here.

What mattered to us was the enthusiasm the kids had for the
books, and for taking them home as their very own.

BIG big thanks to everyone who took part in the delivery days,
and everyone who supported this effort:  the riders, the Fort Davis ISD and
Terlingua CSD, Desert Sports, Friends of Jeff Davis County Library,
Fort Davis Chamber of Commerce, Visit Big Bend/Brewster County Tourism Council,
cycle-friendly Stone Village Tourist Camp, Big Bend Resorts and Adventures,
Davis Mountains State Park, Big Bend Ranch State Park, Ride for Reading,
Better World Books,
and the partners, volunteers and board of the Texas MountainTrail...y'all are GREAT!
Would you like to work with us on future Ride for Reading deliveries?
Leave a comment on this blog post!