Going Locations is one in every of 5 nonprofit organizations SUCCESS journal is spotlighting throughout the week of Giving Tuesday. Early in November, we posted on our social media accounts asking followers to appoint a charity they felt was making an affect of their communities. We tallied up the nominations and are happy to focus on the onerous work these organizations are doing behind the scenes to raised the lives of others.

A viral begin for Katie Blomquist

Within the fall of 2016, when Katie Blomquist labored as a first-grade instructor at a Title I college in South Carolina, a boy in her class requested her for a motorcycle for his birthday. She wished to assist him out, and after asking across the neighborhood, she realized that the majority youngsters in her college didn’t personal a motorcycle. Her personal completely happy childhood reminiscences of driving a motorcycle made her need to assist her college students, so she created a GoFundMe web page. By the tip of the 12 months, she raised sufficient funds for all 650 youngsters in that faculty to every obtain a motorcycle.

Blomquist’s story went viral, and he or she raised greater than $80,000 in three months. That led her to start out a nonprofit, Going Locations, the next 12 months in March. She completed out the college 12 months and left instructing to work at Going Locations full-time. Now, Katie Blomquist spends a lot of the 12 months fundraising for this system. Thus far, the group has given nearly 4,000 bikes to college students in want. 

Going Locations offers a mandatory social element

“Pleasure is a chunk of our social-emotional well being that’s typically ignored when individuals take into consideration charities,” Blomquist explains. “We have a tendency to consider our different primary wants equivalent to meals, clothes, water, shelter and medical help. However we neglect that our social-emotional well being is crucial to the event of a profitable grownup. If a baby has lacked pleasure, it could actually have an effect on who they’re as an grownup.”

Giving to youngsters in want

The Going Locations nonprofit appears for colleges which have a minimum of 40% of scholars residing at or beneath the poverty line, although most of their recipients are nearer to 80% beneath the poverty line. (When a bigger college has a smaller share of youngsters residing at or beneath the poverty line, the nonprofit will do a miniature bike reveal.)

The group’s varied fundraisers generate sufficient cash to allow Katie Blomquist to provide bikes to about two colleges a 12 months—roughly 630 bikes in complete. 2023 proved to be an distinctive 12 months; Going Locations helped 4 colleges and provided greater than 1,000 bikes. 

The group has additionally motivated company sponsors—Boeing lately funded their very own bike reveal. Going Locations is rising every year and is projected to have a minimum of two extra firms funding total colleges with bikes in 2024.

Katie Blomquist’s dream: Bikes for everybody

Going Locations works with Kent Bikes to make customized bikes for the youngsters. The bikes at all times have a white base and are detailed with a brand new, shiny neon shade yearly to indicate the 12 months they had been gifted. Additionally they obtain honorary names: Earlier batches of bikes have been titled, “The Future,” “The Journey,” “The Objective,” “The Pursuit” and “The Purpose.” The subsequent group of bikes shall be referred to as “The Reminiscence” in honor of a long-time supporter who handed away earlier this 12 months. The nonprofit additionally provides the youngsters with locks, helmets, bike pumps and coaching wheels when mandatory.

Elevating funds

Blomquist is the group’s sole worker, and he or she has a devoted board of administrators that helps the mission. The group depends strongly on Giving Tuesday donations in addition to non-public contributions year-round. Going Locations hosts a gala yearly and is the beneficiary of a number of smaller occasions.

Creating household time

When a pupil receives a motorcycle, they want somebody to show them easy methods to trip. Sometimes, a guardian, neighbor, older sibling or cousin steps up. These interactions permit households to bond in methods they could not have been capable of earlier than.

Giving youngsters freedom and a way of possession

The Going Locations nonprofit sends a survey to the bike recipients six months after gifting them. A good portion of respondents say their baby’s habits has improved, or they’re sleeping higher and interacting with friends extra. 

Blomquist explains that one of many greatest advantages of her work is understanding “the bike offers the youngsters freedom and an escape from a house that’s usually not at all times predictable. As a result of they’re youngsters, they will’t get out on their very own. A motorcycle offers them a option to simply be, to decompress and to have one thing that’s theirs. It’s a way of possession, of worth when lots of these youngsters don’t actually have a mattress that’s theirs… [It’s] a basic ceremony of passage that each baby deserves.”

Picture courtesy of Going Locations.

Jaclyn Greenberg writes about her experiences parenting in addition to challenges associated to accessibility and inclusion. She has written for The New York Occasions, CNN, Mother and father, Wired and different publications. Jaclyn is presently querying a memoir about advocacy and discovering her voice.You possibly can join along with her on Twitter at jl_greenberg or Instagram at JaclynlGreenberg.