Today Mark and I (Tony) set off for a few days in Tohoku to meet with local NPO and contacts. We’re hoping to finalize the details for the Tohoku Cycling Festival and bring in a few other interested NPO parties. In addition, we just got word that the first shipment of donated bikes by Cannondale have arrived at the HOPE-JP Kurihara warehouse. We need to install bells and reflectors on all bikes before they can be distributed. Mark and I will assist in the distribution this weekend. We keep getting word from local agencies that bikes are in big demand (they estimate that over 40,000 vehicles were washed away in the tsunami). We can use all the help we can get to make sure as many people as possible get needed bikes. I’ll try to post pictures of the distribution as well as the planned location for our Cycling festival. Stay tuned!
We’re now in Kurihara, with a busy few days ahead of us. We have our first meeting set for tomorrow afternoon in Ishinomaki. More details later.