Momentum Bicycles donated to help communities and the SAPS

Jaco van As (Lyttelton Community Policing Forum), Bailey Schneider (94.7 Highveld Stereo), Dan Moyane (Momentum Group Communications), Director V Ndebele (SAPS Lyttelton), Evelyn Davel (SAPS Lyttelton) Capt HR Khoza (SAPS Lyttelton)

Momentum recently handed over more than ninety bicycles which will be used by community-care outreach volunteers and home-based caregivers. An additional twenty bicycles were donated to the Pretoria SAPS for regular, mobile and visible police patrols.

The bicycles are part of Momentum’s Cycle Fever campaign, which hinges on the sponsorship of the Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge being held on the streets of Johannesburg on 15 November 2009.

Says Dan Moyane, Group Communication Executive, “Although the Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge fits perfectly with Momentum’s philosophy of self-belief and making a success of life, we want to make the impact of this huge event felt by as many people as possible and not just the cyclists on the day. We believe that by aligning this sponsorship to our CSI Programme and the community-based caregivers, we would be able to share the mobility of cycling and effect positive change in so many more lives”.

Home-based caregivers provide care and attention to bed-ridden, vulnerable children and people or child-headed households, providing daily assistance, including bathing, housework or cooking and deliver food and medicine. The home-based caregivers are volunteers and often have to walk between three to five km’s daily to reach all their clients. Lack of mobility means that the more time spent on the road walking, the less time is available to spend at each household. Having a bicycle will significantly improve the quality of care, as caregivers will be able to get to patients quicker leaving more time to provide care and comfort. Food parcels and medicine deliveries will also be easier on a bicycle. Caregivers may even be able to take on more clients on their daily rounds.

Organisations and programmes receiving caregiver bicycles include:

· Humana - Child Aid Doornkop Programme

· The Topsy Foundation – Community Outreach Programme

· The National Association of Child Care Workers – Isimbinda project, Kimberley

· Noah Orphans (Nurturing Orphans of AIDS for Humanity)

· Pen (Pretoria Evangelism and Nurture)

The bicycles are top-of-the-range, sturdy, mountain and road bikes, which can withstand both rigorous daily use, as well as be robust enough for use in the rural areas, where roads may be a little less forgiving than in the city.

In addition to bicycles being donated to caregiver charities, Momentum also handed over 20 sponsored bicycles to the Pretoria SAPS Bike Squad. The agility and mobility of the bicycles will increase patrol efficiency and visibility on footpaths and in pedestrian precincts. Perpetrators and petty criminals on foot will have little chance against the speed of a bicycle in areas inaccessible to police vehicles.

Initially the bikes will be used in the Lyttelton precinct by officers of the uniform branch and reservist squad and as a focus for the business policing group. Although SAPS members are required to maintain physical fitness to carry out their duties, the bicycles will also contribute to maintaining or improving required fitness levels while decreasing crime opportunities in previously inaccessible areas.