Giving Tuesday 2024: Gearing Up for Life with Girls in Gear

2024-11-14T14:47:53-08:00

As a POC female-founded cycling brand, we know we're a minority in the bike world. But we also know how great biking can be – physically, mentally, and emotionally.
More

As a POC female-founded cycling brand, we know we're a minority in the bike world. But we also know how great biking can be – physically, mentally, and emotionally. We believe the life lessons we've learned from getting on two wheels shouldn't be limited to just one group... and neither do our friends at Girls in Gear. Their organization is dedicated to teaching girls life skills through bike skills.

This year, we’ve already donated 200 helmets to Girls in Gear, but we’re excited to do even more with your help. For Giving Tuesday, we're introducing our first-ever, custom-designed Holiday Card that's the perfect gift that gives back. This year, all of the profits from our Holiday Card will go to our non-profit partner, Girls in Gear!

From trying new things to facing fears and being bold, Girls in Gear believes we can help girls gear up for life by helping them thrive on two wheels.

Shop the Holiday Card

We caught up with our friends at Girls in Gear to learn more about their mission, how they got started, and how bikes can teach us valuable life lessons.

Thousand: Can you share a bit about your personal journey and what inspired you to start Girls in Gear?

Gabrielle Rossi: Biking has been a huge part of my life, but it wasn’t always that way. In fact I didn’t want to learn to ride on two wheels until I was nine. As I grew up and moved through adolescence, I struggled with confidence as I felt the world telling me time again to be smaller, quieter, and less bold. I even used biking as a way to shrink myself, both physically and mentally.

But over time, biking became my way of reclaiming space - literally and figuratively. It gave me the freedom to be myself unapologetically, and it’s that experience that led me to start Girls in Gear. I wanted to create a space where girls can be bold, confident, and fearless - where they can learn skills on and off the bike that help them tackle life with strength and independence.

Now, I get to watch girls across the country embrace their power, just like I did. Girls in Gear is a reminder that, with the right support, every girl has the potential to thrive.

T: How do bikes serve as a tool for teaching life skills and promoting positive change in the community?

GR: In a world where girls are constantly being told who to be, how to be, and why to be - Girls in Gear is carving out a place to actively combat those pressures. Biking gives our riders and their coaches an entryway to lessons and conversations about tapping into our feelings, trying new things even when they're hard or scary (hello, biking up hills), and being the boldest version of themselves that they can be. We take all those lessons on the bike and encourage our riders to apply them to their lives off the bike with verve, tenacity, and pluck. When girls learn how to ride a bike, change a tire, or lead a ride, they're also learning about their inner strength, self-reliance, and innate leadership potential.

T: Can you describe how Girls in Gear integrates biking with lessons on kindness, compassion, and inner strength?

GR: Girls in Gear helps riders build confidence on and off their bikes. Weekly sessions designed through age-appropriate lessons for riders aged 5+ focus on a mix of emotional development, bike maintenance, and safe riding skills. We find bikes to be an extraordinary tool for change in ourselves and our communities as a conduit for lessons on kindness, compassion, and inner strength. In this environment, conversations on asking for help lead to understanding how to change gears on a bicycle; resilience and grit are framed around what to do if you fall off your bicycle; and assertive communication opens up a lesson on hand-signaling while riding. We envision a world where every girl grows into her most brilliant, tenacious, and confident self, on and off her bike.

T: Is there a memorable success story from one of your participants that highlights the impact of Girls in Gear?

GR: I have so many! Jesusa learned how to ride her bike at age nine but was terrified that her peers would laugh at her if she fell. She participates in Girls in Gear at one of our Ride On! Low-income partner sites which is our initiative to ensure that every girl has access to ride with us, regardless of financial status. On one of her first days trying, Jesusa, wobbling with determination, lost her balance and fell. She braced herself for the inevitable laughter and teasing, but what happened next was to unexpected and heartwarming. Instead of mocking her, the other girls rushed to her side, lifting her and dusting her off. With words of encouragement and smiles of reassurance, they urged her to get back on her bike and try again. Jesusa's initial fear melted away, replaced by a newfound sense of belonging and confidence. In those pivotal moments, she learned to believe in herself and discovered the profound impact of having a supportive community rallying behind her. All of that, just from riding a bike.

T: How does Girls in Gear foster a sense of belonging and inclusion among its participants?

GR: In order to maintain biking as a right and not a privilege, a no-questions-asked scholarship policy is at the core of our mission, which is to support anyone who needs financial assistance, a bike, and/or a helmet to ride with us. This policy ensures that any girl, regardless of financial means, has access to our program as well as a properly sized bike and helmet. 54% of our participants last school year received assistance in the form of scholarships, bikes, and/or helmets.

T: What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced in running the program, and how have you overcome them?

GR: Girls in Gear has faced a significant challenge in scaling our bike distribution program while maintaining our commitment to accessibility for all girls and their families. Initially, we met this need by collecting gently used bikes through Facebook groups and word-of-mouth referrals in the communities we served. These bikes, stored in the garages of generous community members, were tracked with spreadsheets and repaired through in-kind services from local bike shops. Although this grassroots method got us the bikes we desperately needed, it became evident that I needed a more sustainable and scalable solution to manage the increasing demand and streamline our operations. In practice, this meant I could no longer spend my Saturdays driving around and picking up bikes to drop off at my local shop. We developed long-term relationships with major brands (like Thousand) and retailers, securing in-kind donations of bikes, helmets, and gear, as well as the labor necessary to maintain our fleet. Our operational needs outgrew our initial capacity, so we focused on expanding our infrastructure so we actually had a place to put these bikes. We developed systems for inventory management and bike distribution, and a team responsible for these tasks. We now manage seven fleets of bikes, each consisting of over hundreds of bikes across the country.

Support Girls in Gear

T: What are your future goals for Girls in Gear, and how can the community get involved or support your mission?

GR: Girls in Gear is growing and we want everyone to be a part of it! If you’re interested in rolling with us in your community, email info@girlsingear.org to learn more about our affiliate program.

In partnership with Girls in Gear, we created a bingo scavenger hunt for everyone to enjoy! Download it here and tag @explorethousand and @girlsingear on Instagram to share the fun.