Students and avid bicyclists regularly
meet outside James Branch Cabell Library
Thursday night to take a ride around
the city.
But at 10:30 p.m. this past Thursday,
students who swarmed between Hibbs
Hall and Cabell Library weren’t meeting
for a normal ride – they were meeting
for a ride to honor the Ugandan children
who “night commute” on a daily basis
to avoid being abducted by the corrupt
Ugandan guerrilla force, the Lord’s
Resistance Army.
“We wanted to do something that
would get students here at VCU really
involved with experiencing something
that these students in Africa experience
on a nightly basis,” said Sarah Knowlton,
primary officer of Invisible Children at
VCU.
Invisible Children at VCU, an organization
that promotes awareness
and raises funds for Ugandan children,
joined with local bike groups for the
Bike Night Commute.
“We are going to ride up Grove to
Three Chopt, and then we are coming
back on Cary,” said Allison Proffer, a
sophomore biology major and secondary
officer for Invisible Children at VCU.
Standing on the brick wall outside
Shafer Dining Center to get students’
attention, Proffer spoke to a group of 50
students gathered for the event.
The group left a few minutes after
Proffer’s announcement and headed east
for a two-hour bike ride.
Proffer said night commuting is a huge
part of children’s lives in Uganda.
“Children commute two to four hours
at night and in the morning to sleep
somewhere safe,” Proffer said. “We want
to do a commute that is fun and . (raises
awareness) at the same time.”
The event was created with VCU
student culture, which includes a large
percentage of on-campus bikers, in
mind.
“For so many students, riding their
bike for a couple hours is a weekly thing
that they do,” Knowlton said. “Now they
are going to be able to associate it with
the night commuting that happened in
northern Uganda.”
Knowlton said that by using something
that almost everyone knows how
to do – ride a bike – the group could
reach a lot of people.
“It’s one thing to hear statistics and
look at pictures,” Knowlton said. “(It
is) very different to use what you love,
like bike riding . to make a difference
and change those statistics.”
The 50 students who participated
in the ride had different reasons for
participating. One student said he
participated because he is a part of a
group, the Loners, which regularly bikes
on Thursday evenings.
“There’s usually a ride on Thursday
nights at the same time, same place,” said
Ryan Brosmer, a journalism major.
Brosmer said the Loners, composed
mostly of VCU students, decided to join
efforts with Invisible Children.
Other students attended to raise
awareness for Ugandan children.
Robert Denison, a computer science
major, said although it was important
for the event to be fun, its main focus
was to promote awareness.
“I think the most important thing to
come out of the Bike Night Commute is
for the bike community to be aware of
Invisible Children and what we’re doing
in Uganda,” Denison said.
Nichol Schoneboom, who heard about
the event through a friend, borrowed a
bike for the event.
“My friends invited me, and they
told me about it,” said Schoneboom,
an environmental studies major. “A lot
of my friends are getting involved (in
Invisible Children at VCU).”
Proffer said the Bike Night Commute
was planned with creative flair.
Organizers hope to win the “Creative
Ideas” competition, sponsored by the
national Invisible Children Inc.’s Schools
for Schools program. If the VCU chapter
wins, the competition will offer a direct
donation of $5,000 to Lacor Secondary
School, the Ugandan school that Invisible
Children at VCU is paired with,
she said.
The results of the competition will be
revealed this month.
Because of the event’s high attendance,
the students’ energy and the excitement
over the bike commute, Proffer said, it
might not be the last time the group
hosts the two-hour ride.
“It went really well,” Proffer said.
“We do hope to do it again.”