Fifteen thousand miles means $1,500, which means enough money to sponsor five girls in developing countries that otherwise would not have the opportunity to get an education.
The Independent Council Little 500 team is pairing their biking with fundraising for She’s the First, an organization that provides scholarships to girls in low-income countries.
“It’s this great organization that tries to identify women in countries who need help going to school,” sophomore Hayley Kwasniewski, member of IC Cycling, said. “She’s the First recognizes that if you educate everyone in a population, not just men, not just girls, the whole population becomes better.”
IC Cycling consists of six members and has four new recruits. This spring will be their third year riding in Little 500. Kwasniewski said that although IC hasn’t raised money for She’s the First before, the biking team decided to take it on themselves because they thought it was such an important organization.
“I think She’s the First emulates the kind of characteristics our Little 500 team wants to put out there,” Kwasniewski said.
The IU chapter of She’s the First started three years ago and meets to come up with ways to raise awareness at IU about She’s the First and the importance of women’s education. Junior Lucy Brown is the president of the IU chapter of She’s the First and a member of the IC Little 500 team.
“Educated girls create a ripple effect,” Brown said. “Educated women, educated community. They’re educating their children. It’s not necessarily that they deserve it more, it’s that they are being deprived of it more, so they need this attention and this awareness.”
To raise money, the team is using Charity Miles, an app that donates to the charity of your choice based on how many miles you run, walk or bike. It donates 10 cents per mile biked.
The team hopes to raise enough money to sponsor five girls, which requires them to ride 15,000 miles, Kwasniewski said.
In October, the team is participating in the Hilly 100, a weekend-long event where participants bike 100 miles over two days.
Kwasniewski said the team also plans on taking a trip to somewhere warmer over winter break so that they can bike more. All of the miles biked during the Little 500 race will also count towards their potential goal.
“This is also something we love doing,” sophomore Esther Herbers, head of the Independent Council executive board for the Little 500, said. “I love biking, and I get to turn on Charity Miles.”
Over the summer, members of the team attended the She’s the First Leadership Summit in New York City and were able to hear She’s the First scholars from Peru and Guatemala speak.
“It was a very empowering experience for all of us,” Kwasniewski said. “It made you feel like it didn’t matter where you come from or what you look like, you can accomplish something if you really try. And that’s not just for developing girls but for the girls here, too.”
Brown said the best way to help is joining the IU chapter of She’s the First, donating to She’s the First or downloading Charity Miles and selecting She’s the First as the charity to donate to.
“We are so privileged to be here at IU at this beautiful and prestigious campus, we’re lucky to have an education,” Brown said. “There are so many girls in the world that aren’t lucky.”
