Miller Spotlight

06/20/2026

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who volunteered their time and donated bikes, parts, tools, and materials for the 2nd Ken Parr Build-a-Bike + Safe Routes to Schools Workshop of season 11 today! Because of your generosity and hard work, another great day of community building and bike education was a success.

We also had some extra fun as participants from the Annual Garden Walk 🌸🌺🌷🌻💐🌹stopped by to check out the beautiful herb garden 🪴at our host site, the Miller Beach Farmers Market. It was wonderful to share the space and connect with so many community members.

There are 4 more workshops scheduled this season! If you'd like to volunteer, donate, or participate, visit TAKEBIKETHESTREETS.org for upcoming dates and details.

Thank you all for helping us build bikes, build skills, and build community! 🚲🌿💚

06/06/2026

🚲🌳 Happy National Trails Day! 🌳🚲

Today, Take Bike Streets kicked off the 2026 season with our first Ken Parr Build a Bike Workshop of the summer, and what a day it was!

This event also marked the launch of our new Safe Routes to Schools initiative, a collaboration between VOCART and Health by Design focused on making it safer and easier for families to walk, bike, and roll throughout our communities.

📊 Workshop Highlights:
✅ 18 community members attended
✅ 11 donated bikes serviced and distributed
✅ 4 additional bikes repaired
✅ 1 stroller donated to a local family
✅ One family has already committed to bringing 5 more bikes back for our next workshop to exchange since they out grew them.

We were also honored to welcome Mitch Barloga from NIRPC, who stopped by to discuss exciting opportunities for active transportation in Gary, through the NWI Thrive Coalition.

Thank you to every volunteer, donor, partner, and participant who made today possible. Together we're building bikes, building safer streets, and building a stronger future for Northwest Indiana.

06/01/2026

🚲 BIKE DONATIONS NEEDED! 🚲

The 11th Season of the Ken Parr Build a Bike is here, and we're looking for bicycle donations to help us continue putting safe, refurbished bikes into the hands of kids and families throughout our community and beyond.

Have an unused bike sitting in your garage, basement, or shed? Donate it and help give it a new life! We accept bikes of all sizes and conditions.

📍 Donation Drop-Off & Workshop Dates
Join us at the Miller Beach Farmers Market on the following Saturdays from

10:00 AM – Noon:
• June 6, 2026
• June 20, 2026
• July 11, 2026
• July 25, 2026
• August 8, 2026
• August 22, 2026

🔧 **Volunteers Always Welcome!**
We need helping hands of all skill levels. Whether you're an experienced bike mechanic or just want to learn and support the community, we'd love to have you join us. All ages are welcome!

💙 ✌️Tax-Deductible Donations💫♿️
Bike donations are tax-deductible through our backbone organization, VOCART, a recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

Learn more about our work at http://www.takebikethestreets.org

Please share this post and help us spread the word. Every donated bike creates opportunity, promotes healthy transportation, and strengthens our community.

Take Bike The Streets is a comprehensive program that involves community engagement, economic development and intergenerational environmental education. Our volunteers have committed to organize, decide and act upon projects that will profoundly change our community’s future.The goal of Take Bike ...

05/28/2026

We are so excited about the 11th Season of the Ken Parr Build a Bike and much more!
Thanks to Health by Design for helping support accessible, active transit and safe school zones!

VOCART is excited to announce that we are officially a 2026 Safe Routes to School grantee! 🚲✨

This incredible support will help us expand our *Take Bike the Streets* programming and continue creating opportunities for youth to build confidence, creativity, and community through cycling and digital storytelling.

Thanks to this grant, we’re proud to launch:
🔧 The 11th season of the *Ken Parr Build a Bike* program
🎥 A brand new digital media project that will amplify youth voices and stories from our community

We’re grateful to everyone who continues to support our mission and believes in the power of bikes, art, and education to transform lives.

Stay tuned — 2026 is going to be BIG. 🚴🏾‍♀️💥

ID: Silhouette of kids going to school. One is riding a bike, one is walking and one is in a wheelchair.


Health by Design