Chicago Tribune - January 29, 2009
Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah, nahmed@tribune.com

It wasn't that he didn't love his job. He just wanted moreùa chance to make a real difference in people's lives.

He discovered his calling four years ago when a devastating tsunami tore through Southeast Asia. SRAM, the company he started with his brother and a group of friends, wanted to help, so Day, 49, and his wife traveled to Sri Lanka and Indonesia, trying to determine how bikes could improve lives in countries racked by natural disasters and extreme poverty.

That led to the creation of World Bicycle Relief, which has distributed nearly 50,000 new bikes to support HIV/AIDS caregivers in Zambia and helped victims of the tsunami rebuild their lives. The non-profit group has also dispersed hundreds of bikes in Tanzania, Rwanda, Kenya, Mozambique, Ethiopia and Lesotho.

Day has used SRAM's bike expertise to help create the workhorse equivalent of a bicycle: a 65-pound, steel-frame two-wheeler in the style of a postwar English roadster that's common in Asia and Africa. The bikes come with one or two racks that can carry an entire family or a farmer's produce to market and, more important, are sturdy enough to last a long time.

The group is planning to launch a program raising $7.5 million for schools in Zambia to provide bikes to schoolchildren. Schools in the U.S. can adopt a school for $15,000, which pays for 100 bicycles. So far, Wheaton Academy in the western suburbs has signed up and students volunteered for the program in Zambia.

"A titanium or carbon composite bicycle at the top of the market is the difference between someone's one or two seconds in a race," says the ponytailed Day, explaining why his work with World Bicycle Relief leaves him truly fulfilled.

He's trying to take that message to the top of the relief world. He hopes results from a study that World Bicycle Relief has funded will prove to the World Bank and others that along with food and medical supplies, relief efforts need to look at providing bicycles to the world's most needy.

"We in the developing world forget the power of transportation at the bottom of the market," he said. "Our greatest transportation story in Chicago is getting stuck in traffic, whereas in the developing world they're losing hours and hours a day walking. If we can return two, three, four hours per day to these people, that productivity can be used to better the family and better the communities."

Day says he never set out to start World Bicycle Relief. News clips of the tsunami in late 2004 prompted him and his wife, Leah Missbach Day, 50, to call U.S.-based relief groups and ask whether they would be interested in distributing used bicycles to survivors. The non-profits said they would rather have a donation, so the Days traveled to Sri Lanka and Indonesia for field work of their own.

On the ground, relief organizations thought otherwiseùthey couldn't provide bikes soon enough to tsunami victims who had been relocated to tent camps miles from school and work.

So the Days raised $1.5 million and had a supplier in Sri Lanka build bikes that were "culturally appropriate"ùnothing that would stand out on a dusty road, something sturdy to carry large loads but not painted bright blue or silver, rather plain old black.

They approached SRAM, Trek and the rest of the biking world. They priced a single bike, now $134 ($72 back then). Donors were asked to buy a bicycle, maybe 10. It took 11/2 years, but they raised the money, distributed the bikes and discovered they had a novel concept

Soon other relief organizations wanted to work with them.

Today the Days work full time for World Bicycle Relief, which is housed in SRAM's Near North Side headquarters. They have a 2-year-old son, so trips to Third World countries are not so frequent. They have hired staff and opened an office in Zambia.

090129
CT090103

Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2009. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.

Copyright ©1980, 2009. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .