Neepawa Kin Club aiding launch of local Cycling Without Age chapter

By Casper Wehrhahn Neepawa Banner & Press

A brand new wellness program will soon make its debut in Neepawa. With aid from the Neepawa Kin Club, a local chapter of Cycle Without Age (CWA) is being formed. CWA is a non-profit organization which provides a cycling service with the goal of helping seniors and those with low mobility by providing them with rides around town, fresh air and socialization.

The CWA initiative originates from Denmark, beginning in 2012 with Ole Kassow. Today, it runs chapter non-profits worldwide, with 29 countries opening a collective total of over 2,000 chapter locations. Altogether, there are more than 39,000 trained cyclists riding 4,900 specialized three wheel bikes known as trishaws. In Manitoba, there are currently a total of six chapters of this program, with Neepawa being the most recent.

“We’ve been looking at seniors in the community overall and, with COVID-19 when it happened, just trying to get people connected,” said Kin Club member and CWA Neepawa Chapter secretary Dennie Phillips. “People were getting isolated, and one of those was seniors. This was an activity that could happen outside.”

Phillips added, “It unfortunately took a while to get things set up. But now, thankfully, COVID-19 is more or less over and although it’s not a requirement to be in the fresh air, seniors being able to be out in the fresh air and re-experiencing it is still an active thing.”

Much thanks is given to HyLife, which previously provided the Neepawa Kin Club with a donation from its Fun Days event. This funding aided in allowing CWA Neepawa with the purchasing of its own trishaw bike. The bike arrived in April and is now fully put together, courtesy of volunteers Alex Jarema and Steve Gale.

“It was great! I tell ya, it was very interesting putting it together,” Phillips laughed. “They did a wonderful job.”

Encouraged by early response

The next steps for the local CWA program include the acquisition of insurance, gathering and training volunteers and turning the program over to an independent group. Phillips explained that while the Kin Club has been involved in setting the program up, the move to turn it over is in order to keep rides free of charge.

“In order to source funding to run [CWA Neepawa] so that we don’t have to charge, we’re putting it out there to be an independent incorporated company,” said Phillips. “We’re still sitting on the committee as well, because we want to make sure it’s a success, but we are turning it over to an independent committee.”

Phillips added, “At this point in time, our volunteers consist of our five person committee. However, we’ve already had a lot of people reaching out and saying they would be interested in volunteering. So we were feeling really positive with the early responses.”

CWA Neepawa is tentatively planning to officially start the program come the first of June, after training for any volunteers has con- cluded. A trishaw introduction and training date will be announced by CWA Neepawa once insurance has gone through.

After training, the goal is to have the trishaw bike operating seven days per week, with facilities such as Country Meadows Personal Care Home, Kinsmen Kourts I and Kinsmen Kourts II on specific days. However, the bike is also available to be booked by anyone from the community who is not at one of those facilities. Additionally, if an individual wishes to provide a bike ride to their own family member, Phillips told the Banner & Press that CWA Neepawa is happy to assist.

“We can train you how to use the bike, so if you want to take grandma out for a bike with the kids, you can do that,” said Phillips.

Anyone who volunteers with CWA Neepawa will be able to provide dates and times that they are regularly available. Then, when someone books the trishaw, the program coordinator will contact the available volunteer(s) and let them know what rides are booked and when.

And, when it comes to volunteers, it’s the more the merrier. A large number of volunteers will allow CWA Neepawa to do a proper cycle-through of the avail- able volunteers. Which, while useful for day to day operation, will also particularly be beneficial when providing rides for facilities such as the local care home.

Those wishing to get involved with CWA Neepawa Chapter as a volunteer cyclist are asked to contact the organization via email at cwaneepawa@gmail.com.

The organization can also be reached on Facebook at Cycling without Age Neepawa. Everyone is asked to keep an eye on their social media for an announcement regarding volunteer training.

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