A Thank You to Our Volunteers This Year
One of my responsibilities as Outreach Manager for SVBC is to recruit and have regular communication with SVBC's volunteers. It's one of the best parts of my job.Whether it's sharing their ideas and thoughts at a local team meeting, welcoming people and their bikes at our bike valet stations, representing SVBC at Bike to Work Day energizer stations, or taking photos for us at an important event, it's so invigorating to see people who believe in our work and feel their passion for this wonderful human-powered machine.This year, SVBC volunteers logged more than 580 shifts and 1,500 hours of service!We'd love to recognize the people who volunteered the most number of hours for SVBC, as well as a few people who have been offering up their expertise on specific projects here in the office.THANK YOU to all of you who have donated your time and energy for SVBC this year, it is so important to the ongoing work of SVBC. Thank you for supporting our mission to create a healthy community, environment, and economy through bicycling for people in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties.SVBC's Top Volunteers for 2016 (20+ volunteer hours served)
- Thomas Mayer (pictured in orange, above), 73 hours of volunteer service!
- Curt Hutchings
- Virginia Panlasigui
- Jon Langbein
- Wesley Fong
- Karmen Yung
- Robert Cronin
- Sharon Lum
Current Volunteer Spotlights
Miguel Salazar has been serving as an intern for SVBC this semester, supporting our work to add protected bike lanes on El Camino Real as part of the Grand Boulevard Initiative. Miguel has been researching re-designs of similar streets, which have improved safety and usage. A San Mateo native and resident, Miguel is a senior at Palo Alto University in their Psychology and Social Action program."I have had a positive experience helping out at SVBC. I am more aware of the complexity of design elements that need to be considered and also the challenges SVBC faces when advocating to change infrastructure. I was unaware of the Local Teams-SVBC members that meet to discuss bicycle-related issues in their local communities. After graduation, I am hoping to work in a wilderness-based program that helps veterans that are struggling with symptoms of PTSD."
Ryan Hale is a Sociology sophomore at San Jose State University, and is volunteering for SVBC this semester, helping create fresh, interesting content for our Facebook and Twitter pages. Ryan has always loved riding bikes, in particular mountain biking. He is also part of the cheer squad for SJSU and the Santa Cruz Warriors.I've loved volunteering at SVBC. Everyone is really friendly and it's always fun to put in some hours at the office. It's really awesome to see my hard work actually have an impact in the cycling community. Volunteering has really opened my eyes to a lot of the issues regarding cycling in the Santa Clara County. I never knew how easy it was to have your voice heard in the cycling community and really make a difference in my city. 
Like many people in this region, Michael McDermand is a jack of all trades around technology, and devotes his time to worthy projects. Michael recently spent a day in the office helping improve the way we will communicate with you via our e-bulletins and e-mails.Are you interested in volunteering for SVBC? Check out our upcoming calendar of events for bike parking opportunities, view our volunteer page for the types of help we are looking for, or contact me!-Carlos Velazquez,Outreach Manager, SVBC
