 Welcome to Hawaii's Volunteer Champions here on ThinkTechHawaii.com. I am your host, Peter Rossick, and this is a program where we talk to the volunteers, some of the leading volunteers here in Hawaii that make organizations happen. We want to find out why people give up their most valuable resources, which is their time and their effort to promote some cause or other. And today it's kind of a crossover show for me because we're talking about the Hawaii Bicycle League, which I also talk about in the other program, the Two-Wheel Revolution. Our guests today are Patricia Johnson, who is the vice president or the board of the Hawaii Bicycle League. And with her we have Lauren Lee, whose official title is Director of Community Engagement for HBL, but we could call her the Volunteer Wrangler. So this is, I appreciate your being here. Start with you, Patricia. Why in the world are you volunteering for this organization? Well, it started all happening in 2002 when I happened with a bunch of girlfriends. We decided we were going to go on a bicycle trip to France, and I hadn't been on a bicycle since I was like six. And so I got a bike and started riding in the town where I was in San Jose. And I found out, oh my God, this is so much fun. It was like a remembrance of childhood. And it was actually stunning how much fun it was. So did this trip, came back, and then started looking for local organizations in San Jose, in the town, and found out there are some great volunteer groups, and so I started riding with them. And I think the one reason I volunteer is because I just got hooked. It is so much fun. And you meet such great people. And so then my mom was aging here at home, and so she called and let me, I told her before mom, you ever need me to come, I'll come. She called and said, I need you to come home. And so in December 2006, I closed everything down in San Jose and came home. And prior to that, I had checked into the Hawaii Bicycling League and had ridden the Sentry Rides. I'd come two years prior and ridden the Sentry Ride. And so then I thought, well, I'd check in at the office, and I had been with this volunteer organization in San Jose, and they were so organized, they had so many rides, and a lot of instruction. And when I came home, well, needless to say, the HBL at that time was pretty lacking. So I said, we need to get some rides here. We need to get something. Well, we didn't have any insurance. We didn't have a website. So one thing just kind of snowballed, and I was in deep, and I was really loving it. So with a friend of mine named Dale Hoffman, who has since passed on, but Dale was a very well known cyclist here in Honolulu, and a really good friend and mentor for me. And also then I met Patty Dunn, and we started a riding group called the Red Hot Ladies for Women that were over 50, wanted to just ride, just have fun. Not compete. And it just, it's kind of just grown from there. So why, mainly because it's really fun and remembrance of the freer childhood years. You meet great people, and now I've become much more socially connected and embedded in terms of cycling as an alternative, a multimodal transportation, getting people out of cars to handle some of the climate change issues that we have. So it's become much more political. But fundamentally, why? Because I really love riding a bike. Are the Red Hot Ladies still riding? Yes, we started with Patty Dunn and myself in July of 2007. So we're on 16 years right now. And our first ride, we had two women join us, or four. And we now have over 296 on our list. And I think, and every Sunday we have four rides, four different levels of rides for people to choose from. And I think we put on the road maybe anywhere from 30 to 50 people riding on Sunday morning. That's amazing. Have some men snuck into the Red Hot Ladies. So it's about half, half, and it's all ages. It's about half men, half women and all ages. Yeah. All right. We don't allow any discrimination here on this program. So here's the thing. You just described how much you enjoy riding, how much it captures your childhood. So why would you want to spend time working for the organization, going to those endless meetings, getting them to do the things you've described like get a website and organize all this stuff? I mean, is that the fun part? Actually, so then we so we organized and first then I wanted to get rides organized. So we started, I think I wanted to get one ride every single day of the week. Well, we did some of those and, you know, we kind of threw everything against the wall and we have, we've left now with a Monday morning ride and a Thursday morning ride and those rides have huge ridership now. So the Monday morning ride is called start the week off right ride. And it's intended to have something for beginners all the way to more advanced. And then the Thursday ride is for intermediate to advanced riders and people go right all the way to Kailua and back from Kailukahala. So we started those rides and I have seen so I've seen some people who started with us way back when I've seen them with their families. I mean, it's it's become like a family of friends. And we just we watch out for each other. Sometimes you only know the person's first name and you don't. And then if they're not wearing their helmet and you run into them somewhere, you don't recognize them. And we have to say, oh, yes, I do know. But I don't recognize them if they're wearing spandex, right? OK, Lauren, let me let me turn to you and ask you your primary role is to community engagement. And and that really, I think, means mostly volume working with volunteers. And how important are volunteers to the Hawaii Bicycle League? So my name is Lauren and I am the director of community engagement for the Hawaii Bicycle League. We are a small 501 C3 non profit. There's about four. There's about four to five office staff. And then we also have our bike ed staff to go to all the schools to teach Kiki how to ride bikes in fourth grade. So when we're hosting these events for a small but mighty team, so we don't. There's only a couple of us. So we host these big events with over 1300 participants. For example, this past September, we had our 40th annual Honolulu Century Ride, which requires about 250 plus volunteers. So it is extremely important to have volunteers because they help back up our events. They help make they quite literally help make these events happen. Without them, we would not have events. So it's really important that, you know, as an organization and for other organizations as well, who recognize or feel the same way that we cherish our volunteers and make sure that we don't hit them for granted and truly appreciate them for what they do because we wouldn't be here today without them. Was it hard to get 250 volunteers and get them in the right place for this big Century Ride, the 40th anniversary or 40th Century Ride that HBL has put on? How difficult is it to get 250 people to to work on something like that? For the most part, it isn't too bad. It depends on what position I'm recruiting for. I think is the better way to put it. We have we have a lot of returning volunteers who always volunteer with every single one of our events. They're as soon as I put our volunteer sign up sheet out, they're ready to volunteer. I get so many of them immediately volunteering. I also have organizations who reach out to us as well, who are interested in volunteering as a group. There are some cases where I do have to reach out to other organizations to see if maybe their group would want to, you know, help us out with an event. And then, you know, reaching out to individuals who I feel like would be good for a certain lead volunteer position. So it really depends on what position I'm recruiting for. If it's more like early morning at 3 a.m. for events, it's a little bit more difficult to recruit for volunteers. But for the most part, we have such a great. Community that it's I wouldn't say that, you know, it's too different. OK, great. Give me an example of an organization that would reach out to you and say, can we volunteer? Can we help? Don't see me. I'd like to think of. Boy Scouts. The Boy Scouts, yeah, Boy Scouts, key projects over in, I believe, Kaneohe. See where else do I have? I have this. There is this one. There's these two other groups as well during the Honolulu Sentry Ride. Actually, we scratch that. I think we have like four groups who have continuously volunteered for big events such as the Honolulu Sentry Ride. I have the Hawaii Kai JC's and the Honolulu Chinese JC's who come out and adopt aid stations, which are basically pit stops for cyclists to grab snacks, refuel, use the restrooms, get some first aid or get some mechanical support. So I'm using the Honolulu Sentry Ride as an example for our volunteers, just because it is our biggest event and does require the most volunteers. So along this 100 mile route, we have about seven aid stations along the routes to help support cyclists during the ride. And each of these aid stations are adopted by different organizations. They quite literally adopt the aid station. HBL provides all of the equipment, but these organizations provide the volunteers. We have a lot of returning organizations that have helped adopt an aid station for over 10 years. Some of them, including like I've stated before, the Honolulu Chinese JC's, Hawaii Kai JC's, Hawaii Swimming Team. We also have Keap Project and then HHS planners, so as well as the Boy Scouts too. But a lot of them have just started volunteering with us this year, but many of some of them have been volunteering with us for over 10 years. So. Terrific. So Patricia, we were talking a little before, but you mentioned for many people, HBL is events like the Sentry Ride, like the Haleva Metric Sentry and some other things like that. And for other people, you know, they may have heard of the education programs. First of all, in the schools, but also I just did a just learned to ride a trike in the senior trike class. What other things are the HBL doing? How has that changed from when you first signed on? I think the main thing is our education and advocacy. So given that we're here in Honolulu and representing a statewide organization. So we need we have Travis, our executive director and some of our key volunteers, board members, John Rogers, for example, people who know the ins and outs or have made sure that they know the ins and outs of how to work with the Department, State Department of Transportation, the city Department of Transportation services and then the legislature. So we need to we're advocating then for things for the needs of cycling, but much larger than that. Actually, we're on board with collaborating with other organizations, Sierra Club, Ulupono Initiative in terms of. Bills and things that will make our planet a more livable place and also will be an enticement for people to be out, be active and to get out of their cars, for example, feel safer doing it. One of the things we have people move to Hawaii and they think and they've come from a place that's been very cyclical and friendly and they come here and they're very disappointed, especially in Honolulu. They said, I'd love to ride my bike, but I just don't feel safe on the roads. So under Mayor Caldwell, there was some major advances made in terms of and I know I'm not popular with some people, but for us and for the community, the King Street protected bike lane. And now we have we have South Street and we have a Pensacola connector and there's more being planned. So I think mostly the events and I'll really help promote the commitment that we have to furthering the needs of people who ride bikes, but also the needs of all of our citizens to live in a healthier, safer place. That's great. You mentioned it's that HBL Hawaii Bicycle and League is in fact a statewide organization. And I know there are some representatives on the other islands. And right now, of course, Maui is on our minds. And I know that HBL, since the disaster, has launched a program to get bicycles for Maui. Lauren, can you tell us just a little bit about it and how it can find out more? So HBL is currently working with community partners, including bike shops on Oahu and Maui to get bicycles to those impacted by the wildfires on Maui. We are currently accepting donations to help cover the costs associated with shipping, purchasing and distributing bicycles, as well as taking donations of ready to roll bicycles and distributing those. OK, well, is it successful or are we getting bikes over to Maui? Yeah, we've had a good batch donated to the bike shop, which is which is a location that is currently taking bike donations. But I think we have a pretty good amount. We are they're already stacking up in our storage right now. OK, so if I have a bicycle that I want to donate, I think I know how to donate money. I'll go to the HBL website. That's the easy part. If I have a bicycle, I want to donate to make sure that it gets to Maui. What do I do? Yeah, so you're going to go to HBL.org slash bikes for Maui. It'll give you kind of the summarization of what this program is going to be for, as well as all of the bike shops that are currently accepting donations of ready to roll bicycles. So he is more like ready to roll bicycles is what we're. OK, they should be in good shape, in other words, ready to roll. Not something that's going to have to go get repaired or whatever. Right. Yeah. All right. I have Peter. I have at my house, I have people bringing bicycles to my house. And then we're going to take them over to Hawaii Bicycling League. But so people are really looking to see like, do I need to have these extra bikes around? No, let's get them over to Maui. Yeah, just about every year, I live in the condominium and there are bicycles in our garage that have not been unlocked in the 20 years I've lived here. So I know we know there are a lot of bicycles out there that could be put to better use. And I really encourage people if they have a bicycle that's in serviceable condition or take it to one of the bike shops and have them with it into usable condition for a few bucks and then get it to, well, we're not going to say go to Patricia Johnson's house, but we'll say take it to the HPL office in Kaimuki or I imagine some of the bike shops are accepting donations and moving them along. So this is so important to help people on Maui right now. And a bicycle could mean the difference between somebody getting to work, getting to school and not. So among the many things that you could do for Maui, that's one that's probably among the simpler ones. And of course, donating money would always help. So Patricia, you've been involved for a long time. You've talked about some of the changes you've seen, a lot more bike infrastructure, a lot more cyclists, a lot more different kinds. And now we have electric bikes. We have regular traditional bikes. We have scooters. We have electric skateboards that are all regular old fashioned skateboards. How has bicycling changed at all these different kinds of devices coming into the picture? Has that changed bicycling or changed the work of the HPL, I guess? Yes. And it's going to be up next, I think, with legislature. And because right now, with all the new devices you just mentioned, there really isn't, hasn't been any legislation on that. So that's going to be up next. Also, we have Beaky. We have the bike share program that Laurie Shepard did. And it's been very successful here in Hawaii. A lot by our tourists, but now in Kaimuki, they have it. And up in Manoa, we have some bikes. So it's becoming much more familiar for people. But I think, Peter, for us, it's just an educational outreach that we just have to get for people to understand that it's easy to ride a bike. It's safer to ride a bike. And we really need to get the message out. So this program is really helping. And also, HPL, we have a volunteer. This is under Malia with educational classes. We have free classes for people to learn how to ride a bike, how to ride a bike safely, how to traverse and traffic safely. And those classes are free. They don't have to be a member of HPL. And that program is taught by all volunteers, who people who have become what we call League Cycling Instructors. And Malia is one of our national trainers in that program. So there's been a lot of commitment about our staff to educate themselves and to be politically active. And we just, yeah. So once we need the word out, and then people can get back and find the true joy of getting back on their bikes. Too bad we can't figure out a way to have classes for people who drive vehicles and give them, how do we get, how do we do that? How do we get people who are driving, not bad people, but who just are not in their heads aren't in the right place. How do we reach that audience, do you think? I think the main thing is we need to build it and they'll come. I mean, just like the movie, we need to connect. We have a lot of bicycle infrastructure, but a lot of it's not connected. So for example, right now, from riding from Nanakuli all the way into UH, that is the South Shore bike lane we're calling it, believe like that. That thing gets connected, that could be a game changer. And we need funding to keep those paths clean and safe. And so for me, it's like build it and they'll come and then also messaging. And this is, Lauren is great at social media getting the word out. Okay. So Lauren, I'm not gonna get up at 3.30 in the morning to man of age station for the century ride, full confession there. And I'm a very amateur cyclist. I like to get around. What else could I do? If I wanted to volunteer, I came to you right now I said, Lauren, I really want to volunteer to support this effort. What else, what can I do? We're always welcoming volunteers. Sometimes I have volunteers such as Patricia who comes in every Friday to call all of her new and renewing members. She's been doing this for I think quite a while now and she comes in every Friday just to make these phone calls which is amazing because we want to be able to welcome our new and renewing members. We also have membership packets. We make those in-house in the office. So if you're willing to sacrifice maybe a few paper cuts into making these membership packets we welcome that as well. But also tabling events, you know, quite advice when we've also attends a lot of community tabling events where we're out there possibly hosting a bike rodeo just doing a tabling to see get more people on bicycles and educating people about, you know, the cycling community. If you're interested in any of those like reach out to me, Lauren at hbl.org and we can always, you know, custom fit some type of volunteer position. Yeah, that's great. You, from the days that Patricia described when there was no website, I think you've come a long way. hbl.org is a very active and very lively website. And I encourage anybody that's even vaguely interested in the subject to go take a look because if you ever heard the expression something there for everybody, I would say that pretty much anybody could find something interesting on that website including a lot of pictures of people in spandex. So that's terrific. Patricia, let me ask you again something a little different. If you've talked about the changes you've seen and some of many of them you've actually caused to happen or helped cause to happen. Right now, is there something missing? Is there something in the volunteer work of hbl that you threw every so often think, gee, I wish we had a or we should be doing this? Is there something in that category? Well, I think for this, one of the things like Lauren's staff there, Lauren said that the staff is a mighty, mighty crew, but they're small. And so we always, first of all, funding for an advocacy position. We need another staff member that will they'll be full time leading the advocacy charge. And then Lauren has been one of the things she's been charged with is finding a new membership. We've ever since I've been here since the very beginning, we have just never had a very good membership. What do we call it, Lauren? Membership coordinator. Yeah. And so she's been raised. What do we call it? Tell me that again. Membership coordinator. Membership coordinator. So with the Hawaii Bicycle League, another way that you can help us out is by becoming a member of the Hawaii Bicycle League, you get discounts from our events, you get discounts from some of the local bike shops, but we do have a couple of different plans. So you can always sign up at hbl.org, but yeah, we're definitely looking for someone to kind of take the lead with both our advocacy side of things and Hawaii Bicycles membership. So with more people riding, as I think we've all seen, with more bike lanes, with more different kinds of ways to get around on two or three or four wheels, there ought to be a flood of people coming into HBL and saying, you know, very least take a little, take a few bucks or very most I want to volunteer, help make this happen. It seems like the time is ripe for that, for HBL to move up to the next stage and how do volunteers fit into that? I think volunteers also have the passion for the organization that they're helping, which I think is a key factor in helping grow the organization such as the Hawaii Bicycle. We have volunteers, like I'm mentioning Patricia again, volunteers like Patricia, who have been volunteers for many years and have helped drive a lot of the new adaptations to the Hawaii Bicycle and helping to improve it as a whole organization itself. So I'm not saying you have to have the passion for the organization you are helping out with, but it's always nice to have because it helps the organization grow. It's on its own too. I have a feeling if you had about 20 more Patricia's, we'd be in much better shape. Well, I think- Patricia, what can you do about that? How can we get to 19 more? Well, I think one piece is a lot of people have different passions for different projects and the staff can't, you know, people will send, I think you should do this. Well, the staff should say, that's a great idea. We'd love to have it. Will you take it on? And for people to be willing to, for example, we would love to have a bicycle hub, you know, a place where people can come and learn how to build bikes and then we give way bikes into the community and perhaps it even turns into a business where we could strip down old bikes and, you know, that's a Salt Lake City, for example, has a fabulous model. Well, we don't have the wherewithal to do that, but there was groups of people who have passions for different things, take those things on, then like Lauren said, then, you know, the passion just shows up and it's varied and wide and it can fit all kinds of needs. That sounds great. I know Kalihi Valley, of course, has a very active bike restoration and distribution program. And if you're not aware of the Kapuna Shed, the, what used to be called the Men's Shed, before it sounds saw the light, there's Frank Smith who is on the board, of course, I think he's still on the board of the HBL and he's still in one of the better bike shops that's got a bike restoration section in there. So it's kind of happening, but we just need to see, I'm assuming we need to see more of that. There's still kids out there, I suspect who don't have a bike or don't have a good enough bike or grew the one they got from Christmas five years ago. So, and more bikes, more bicyclists, more attention from drivers. I think it's kind of, you know, I'm obviously an enthusiast, so I'm not going to pretend to be an impartial observer. So this has been great. I want to thank you both for coming to the end of our time. If there's anything last words you want to give, Lauren, or anything, you know, how do you already told us how to volunteer, how to give money, anything else you want to leave people with, 60 seconds. If you're interested in participating, whether as a volunteer or writing your events, please visit our official website, hbl.org, which is our organization's acronyms for Hawaii Bicycle Week. So, hbl.org. I also just want to take the time to thank all of the organizations, the individuals, and also the local bike shops who have volunteered their times to help the Hawaii Bicycle Week grow to what it is now. And we hope to continue to, you know, power through with your support as well. So just know that we are extremely grateful for you guys and Mahalo Nui Lua. All right, that was 62 seconds. But that's okay. Patricia, you have 60 seconds. Any last words? I just want to, well, first of all, just thank our staff and our new executive director, Travis Council. So after coming out of COVID, we're now really reinventing and we're in a strategic project right now, reinventing who we are and what we're up to. And there's been a lot of people who are engaged in that. And the intention is to really grow this big time and become a part of the whole overall conversation about having Hawaii be a green, safe, climate sensitive, sustainable culture. And we're considering, we want to be a part of that, a big part of it. And we think we have a lot to offer there. So this is a moment that people, this is a good moment to join up, to get involved because you're about to have this growth spirit, I suspect. All right, well, thank you both very much. It's been a real pleasure. My enthusiasm for HBL and for your work and for people like you, Patricia, is boundless. I really think it's people that will make the difference. And with that, we've come to the end of another half hour of Hawaii's volunteer champions. We'll be back in a couple of weeks with a different volunteer and a different organization. And I hope you will join us. Also check the two-wheel revolution where we talk about the subject a lot more. Thank you both to Lauren and to Patricia and to everybody who's watching both of you. Aloha and have a great day.