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Projects Updates for Light the Night

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  1. Weekly Update: Bike to Work Day; Light the Night; Grand Re-opening

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center
    Light the Night
    C-U Bike to Work Day

    All, Heck of a week we just had. Tuesday was Bike To Work Day and Light The Night; both events went well. CBC as a LTN location was not as popular as the other two spots but we are still only in our second year of offering this location; the other two spots have been there for over 10 years and have a lot more passers-by. I do appreciate the convenience of not having to go anywhere for the event, though!

    BTWD was a decent turn out. We had around 30 people stop by to pick up their shirts. iSEE shot some footage for a promo video. I also talked with a few profs/pro staff folks who said this was their first bike commute, which was great. Hopefully they’ll stick with it! It also reminded me I need to brush up on my beginning commuter tips…

    Our Grand Opening event was a success. We got to show off our space to quite a few people who’d never been by before and a handful of regulars that were duly impressed with the upgrade from our old space.

    This week I’ve got a new student worker starting, so that will be a welcomed addition to the team. I’ll also pick up some bikes from TBP for rebuild as we’re flush out of decent Shop Builds. Demand has waned a bit or word is spreading that we’re out of bikes so fewer folks are coming by—either way, we’ll get a few more fixed up this week.

    The numbers:

    Visitors: TBD
    Sales: $513.50
    Bikes (refurb): 1 for $180
    Memberships: 5 for $150
    Tire/tubes: 6 for $19.50

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Coordinator

  2. Bike Day 2021 held on September 14, 2021

    Associated Project(s): 
    C-U Bike to Work Day
    Light the Night

    Bike Day 2021 was organized on September 14, 2021! Here are some of the numbers from the events from Bike Day 2021.

    Bike to Work Day:

    • Held in the morning from 7 - 10 am
    • Record-breaking event with 16 welcoming stations in Champaign County, including 9 on-campus
    • Record 802 pre-registrations to attend the event and more than 150 walk-in registrations
    • University Housing provided refreshments to all campus welcoming stations
    • iSEE produced a video highlighting the event

    Light the Night:

    • Held in the evening from 4 - 7 pm
    • Three locations: Alma Mater, Hallene Gateway, and Campus Bike Center
    • 40 volunteers for the event
    • installed nearly 750 light sets (front and rear)

    General feedback was very positive from the campus community members. Several mentioned that holding these events in September felt like a welcoming event and gave the returning and new students an opportunity to explore the campus and community on bike and learn about the bike program at the beginning of school year!

    The Bike Month Planning team and Light the Night Planning teams are considering organizing both of these events in the fall semester going forward.

  4. F&S Announcement about Bike Day events!

    Associated Project(s): 
    C-U Bike to Work Day
    Light the Night

    Celebrate CU Bike Day 2021
     
    Be a part of two great upcoming bicycle events on Tuesday, September 14. You can participate, volunteer, or do both! 

    The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign achieved the Silver-level Bicycle Friendly University status in October 2019 because of its ongoing commitment to improving bicycle education, infrastructure, and programs. Visit the Bike at Illinois website to learn more about the many efforts that support bicycling on campus.
     
    Bike to Work Day
    Champaign County Bike to Work Day returns this semester. There will be 17 welcoming stations open between 7 and 10 a.m., with nine on the Urbana campus. Grab a snack and get some free Bike at Illinois merchandise and a T-shirt! To get the free T-shirt, you must register and bring your bicycle! 
     
    Light the Night
    The 14th annual Light the Night, a free bike light giveaway, will be held that evening from 4 to 7 p.m. at three locations:

    • Alma Mater Plaza
    • Hallene Gateway (intersection of Illinois Street and Lincoln Avenue)
    • Campus Bike Center (51. E. Gregory Drive) 

    Participants must bring their bicycles to receive the free light sets; lights will only be installed on bicycles without lights. Volunteers are needed in the afternoon and evening for three shifts. Fill out the volunteer sign-up form to assist. All volunteers will be required to wear face coverings during the event.

  6. Weekly Update: BTWD and LTN dates finalized

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center
    C-U Bike to Work Day
    Light the Night

    All, Steadily picking up around here. Had to pull out the folding stands on a couple occasions. Got a new hire in the works. Dates are set for Light The Night and Bike To Work Day for the fall. On Friday we had a volunteer working towards a membership, which was a welcome occurrence.

    This week is business as usual.

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 20
    Sales: $1022.10
    Bikes (refurb): 3 for $500
    Memberships: 5 for $150
    Misc: $58.50

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Manager, Campus Bike Center

  7. Combined Bike to Work Day and Light the Night planning meeting

    Associated Project(s): 
    C-U Bike to Work Day
    Light the Night

    Please watch the meeting recording here: Combined Bike to Work Day and Light the Night meeting on June 8, 2021.

    Also, attached are the meeting notes for Light the Night, agenda for this meeting, and a draft of the sponsorship/fundraising letter from Champaign County Bikes.

    Attached Files: 

  9. Final numbers from Light the Night 2020

    Associated Project(s): 
    Light the Night

    This year, Light the Night event was hosted at three locations: Alma Mater Plaza, Hallene Gateway, and Campus Bike Center (new location). Overall, the volunteers installed bicycle lights to nearly 450 bikes at these locations.

    Leftover lights:

    Red lights: 806

    White lights: 779

    The remaining lights are stored in Room 143 at F&S. They will be distributed among the four funding agencies.

  10. Light the Night 2020 - post event meeting

    Associated Project(s): 
    Light the Night

    The Light the Night 2020 organizing team met on September 29th, 2020 to discuss the event and lessons learned. Gabe Lewis said that he was in contact with City of Urbana to publish a final report for LTN 2020 in their upcoming newsletter. Sarthak Prasad would do the final count after the meeting so that Gabe can send the report to City of Urbana.

    The team noted that there were several students who needed repairs on their bicycles, so they were given the informtion about Campus Bike Center. Jeff Yockey was also doing minor repairs at the Hallene Gatway location. Next year, we could maybe advertize the event so that those needing minor bike repairs can go to the CBC location. Jake Benjamin said that we could have a repair station at the end of the volunteer line at the CBC location for anyone needing immediate repair. We all thought it was a great idea!

    The team also noted that since the light installation took minimal time, the attendees were more interested in learning more about the bicycle information, Census, and Wellness this year. We should also have the Bike at Illinois merchandize and other handouts at the exit rather than at the entry point.

    Finally, we all thought that the presence of UIPD was very encouraging, the officers helped out a lot with handing out information, and they were happy to help!

    The event was considered a success, considering the pandemic and concerns of having a distribution event. All volunteers were very careful and abided by the Safety Plan in place and helped keep the line of attendees moving (attendees were in and out within 2 minutes).

    Stacey DeLorenzo, Chantelle Hicks, Sinead Soltis, and Sarthak Prasad took several pictures for the event and posted them to social media.

  11. Final Check

    Associated Project(s): 
    Light the Night

    On September 18th, the organizing team met to finalize the tasks before the event. We discussed the bike rack on bus demonstration, volunteer update, and some remaining tasks in the to-do list in the LTN google drive. We decided to meet once more before the meeting on Wednesday.

    Confirmed 37 Volunteer  submissions, 6 police officers will be present for the duration of the event (2 at each location), and 2 Wellness Ambassadors at each locations to talk about the current situation and the need for precaution (they will also handout safety information packets including masks). Gabe confirmed that 2 representatives from Census 2020 could join each location as well.

    Campus Rec and iSEE will provide some water bottles to be handed out to the volunteers who dont have one. DIA will provide 6 Gatorade containers for water refills for volunteers only. Stacey and Sarthak will fill them up with ice and water and deliver them to the three locations.

    We discussed the table setup, how to organize the lines, and the assignments for the volunteers. All volunteers were sent the Safety Plan and Warning and Waiver Form on Wednesday, September 23, 2020. Sarthak and Stacey will drop off the lights and merchandize at each location by 3 pm.

    All tables and chairs will be delivered by 3 pm. Sarthak and Stacey will arrange the tables at 3 pm at Hallene Gateway and Alma Mater location. Sarthak will print out numbers for each table/volunteer station, list of volunteers for each location, etc.

  14. Digital signs posted

    Associated Project(s): 
    Light the Night

    Digital Signs were posted to the following locations from 9/18/20 to 9/24/20:

    1. Illini Union and Bookstore
    2. Campus Residence Halls and Dining Halls
    3. F&S
    4. BIF
    5. Campus Rec
    6. Beckman
    7. Architecture Building (FAA)
    8. Chez Wounded Veterans Center
    9. Coble Hall- Graduate College
    10. Law Building
    11. CSL
    12. DCL
    13. ECE
    14. Engineering Hall
    15. Foellinger Auditorium
    16. Huff Hall
    17. Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering building
    18. Loomis Laboratory
    19. Material Science and Engineering (MSEB)
    20. Micro + Nanotechnology laboratory
    21. Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory
    22. Siebel Center
    23. Talbot Laboratory
    24. Vet Med Basic Sciences Building
    25. Vet Med Teaching Hospital
    26. EnterpriseWorks at Research Park
    Attached Files: 

  15. Tables, chairs, and hand sanitizers for all three locations

    Associated Project(s): 
    Light the Night

    The work order was approved (WO #10813200) to place 7 tables, 15 chairs, 2 Hand sanitizer stations, 2 recycling bins for each of the following three locations:

    1. Alma Mater Plaza (intersection of Green and Wright St)
    2. Hallene Gateway (SW corner of Lincoln Ave and Illinois St)
    3. Campus Bike Center (51 E Gregory Drive, Champaign, IL)

  16. LTN: Lawn Signs

    Associated Project(s): 
    Light the Night

    The Lawn Signs were approved by Kristin McMurray on September 1, 2020. The Lawn Signs will be placed at 15 pre-determined locations on-campus from September 17th to September 24th (removed right after the event).

    The work order was approved to create the Lawn Signs on August 31, 2020 (WO #10811551).

    Attached Files: 

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