Monday, December 30, 2013

Collecting used bicycles to send to Armenia

So far we have received 5 bicycles (1 is not included in the picture below) and we still need 45 more! Please ask around and spread the word.  Our strategy for Armenia is different, since World Bicycle Relief does not deliver to Armenia. The Armenian bicycles stores are also too expensive for out budget of $120/bicycle. Thus we are collecting them in Los Angeles and using a shipping container provided by Focus on Children Now to deliver all 50 bicycles to Armenia. The bicycles will transform the lives of these orphans for the better and we need your help!


Friday, December 20, 2013

Top 10 Inspiring Grantee Stories of 2013

I am humbled that the Pollination Project has included our organization in their top 10 list of 2013. Thank you!
Please click here to see their complete list.

Thursday, December 19, 2013

New Bike donation.

Thank you to Lori Koubikian for donating a bicycle!! A little girl at an Armenian orphanage will be very happy. Thank you for your generosity. As you know , for orphanage in Armenia, we decided to collect bikes & ship it there. Its actually mroe cost efficient.  So far we have collected 5 bicycles but we still need 45 more. Please spread the word and let's help the orphans in Armenia! 

Look out for a possible bike collection drive!

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

More Donations!!!

Even after the bike-a-thon/hike-a-thon, the kindness of strangers has not ended. Last week we recieved donations totaling to $275! We are blessed to have supporters like you guys. Every donation, big or small, changes an orphans life and every time we are one step closer to providing orphans, all around the world, with the gift of education. Thank you for your generosity!


Friday, November 8, 2013

Thank you to the Vaya Con Dios Foundation!

We were shocked to receive a check from the Vaya Con Dios Foundation. The $2,000 donation will make a dramatic change in the lives of orphans. We never expected this kindness from total strangers. Their generosity inspires us to do more and reach out to more orphans around the globe. Thank you so much! 

Thursday, November 7, 2013

We are now accepting bicycles!

If you live in the LA area and have bicycle you would like to donate please let us know. These bicycles will be sent to orphans in Armenia. Our goal is to collect 50 bicycles by January 1st! 

Our strategy to equip Armenian orphans with bicycles is to send them used bicycles. Unfortunately World Bicycle Relief cannot ship it to Armenia as they focus primarily in Africa.


We will accept bikes that are in good condition and that can handle rough terrain. Please send us an email to bikes4orphanages@gmail.com if you are interested.


Photo credits: World Bicycle Relief

Monday, October 28, 2013

Sean Bird's Cycling Blog

One of our team members, Sean Bird, is a very gifted athlete. He is a Category 3 road biker and Category 1 mountain biker who has won numerous races in the Southern California area. His goal is to become a professional cyclists in Europe and we are sure he will get there. In June, in order to combine his passion for print journalism and cycling, he created a cycling blog which reviews all the latest cycling gears from power meters to bars and gels. I (Sebouh) have been interested in cycling since freshman year, but it was not until meeting Sean, when I really became committed to this great sport. If you are a cyclist or just interested please visit http://seanbirdcycling.blogspot.com/. I find his reviews very helpful as an aspiring competitive cyclist myself.
A screenshot from Sean's Blog. This particular review was posted in Nov 3.



Thank you Mayor Dave Weaver!

I am honored to be receiving this Commendation Award on behalf of the Bikes 4 Orphans' team. Hopefully you can attend our Bike-a-thon and Hike-a-thon next year!

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Very Successful Bike-a-thon and Hike-A-Thon, THANK YOU!

We are so excited to report that we've raised almost $6000! We had more than 150 participants and many wonderful volunteers.  We were blown away by the support of our community.  THANK YOU!
Thank you to Solemn Bound for putting on an amazing performance. Thank you to the St. Francis Mountain Biking team for supporting this event. Thank you to the Glendale Adventist Medical Team for providing medical support. Thank you Warner Brothers, PAA, Incycle, and Pasadena Cyclery for donating wonderful items for the raffle. And thank you to Vita Coco for providing hundreds of bottles of coconut juice (People loved it). We can all proudly say that we came together as a community and made a difference in the lives of orphans.  We are truly honored and humbled by all your support.

Update 11/07/13: $8241 raised from Bike-a-thon/Hike-a-thon
October 26th, 2013.  Our 1st bike/hike-a-thon
More photos will be posted on our FB.  Please check our FB page.


Monday, October 14, 2013

Our first TV Appearance on KNBC!

More details about the Oct26 bike/hike event.

We have created another blog you updated on our Bike-a-thon/Hike-a-thon. Here is the link.

Please remember that this bike-a-thon is not a race but a fun event to bring the biking community together and help raise funds for Bikes 4 Orphans.

See you all on October 26, 2013 at the Glendale Sports Complex!  Please RSVP here on our Facebook event page.

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Donating Online









For the people who are interested on donating online.
Please visit http://www.focusonchildrennow.org/involved/donate.htm.
Important: Under "AIM" please write "Bikes 4 Orphans"
Thank you for your support!

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Bikes 4 Orphans is an official non-profit 501(c)3 organization!

We have some great news to announce!

A non-profit organization, Focus on Children Now, has selected Bikes 4 Orphans to become a branch of their organization. FCN is an organization that helps impoverished children around the world. We decided to merge with them in order to be classified as an official non-profit organization and in order to take advantage of their wide variety of assets.

Thus, all future checks should be written out to "Focus on Children Now-Bikes 4 Orphans" and all future donations will go through their website. It is also important to note that the mission of Bikes 4 Orphans will stay the same; we will continue to donate to orphanages in order to provide access to education and other basic necessities in life through bicycles.

FCN website: http://www.focusonchildrennow.org/


Friday, September 20, 2013

First Annual Fundraising Event for Bikes 4 Orphans

We are so excited to publish our flyer for the October 26, 2013 Bike-a-thon / Hike-a-thon. Bring your family, friends, neighbors and pets! Lets transform an orphan's life!

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

I am honored to see another media coverage of our project. Thank you Pasadena Now! 

Keep in mind that our 1st annual fundraiser is on Oct 26 in Glendale Ca.  It's a bike-a-thon & hike-a-thon event and the whole family is invited.  Flyer will be posted soon.

Monday, September 9, 2013

Orphans at the Machao Orphanage Riding their bicycles!

Check out the orphans at the Machao Orphanage riding their bikes. They were extremely happy and their lives have been forever changed. This is the power of bicycles!

Click on the link for the Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWwRT-Zhhy4


Bikes 4 Orphan on LA Times!

This has been an exciting week for Bikes 4 Orphans. LA Times decided to run our story from the Glendale News-press article because it had gained so much popularity!

Once again, we would like to invite people to come participate at our bike-a-thon/hike-a-thon on October 26, 2013 at the Glendale Sports Complex.

Thank you for all your support!


LA Times article here: http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-glendale-teen-20130909,0,5860133.story

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Thanks Glendale News Press for Covering Bikes 4 Orphans Project.

We are honored to be mentioned in the Glendale News-press. We hope that this raises more awareness for Bikes 4 Orphans and orphans around the world who are in need of bicycles to gain an access to education and other necessities.

We also hope that the community will support our hike-a-thon and bike-a-thon at the Glendale Sports Complex on October 26, 2013.

Check out the article here: http://www.glendalenewspress.com/news/tn-gnp-teen-helps-put-bikes-in-africa-20130906,0,2304158.story

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Bikes 4 Orphans made it into the local news!

I am thrilled to see that our local newspaper, CV Weekly, felt our story is a worthy news to be included in their print edition.  I am hoping more teenagers will see this and get inspired to act.  Thank you CV Weekly!


The group’s beginnings stem from a conversation between Bazikian and Dr. Carolyn Rowley, the director of the Machao Orphanage. He learned of the children’s struggle to get to school, and vowed to provide the orphanage with the bicycles they needed.
“I knew that there was no going back and that I had to do everything in my power to keep my promise,” explained Bazikian. “We made a promise and you have to keep your promises. I had to man up. It was a serious promise that I made and I wasn’t going to let 43 kids down.”

Read complete article here:

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Rotary Club of Glendale (Noon) donated 32 Bicycles!

Today,  I was invited to present Bikes 4 Orphans to the members of the rotary club, who are all influential people in the community. The members at the Rotary Club were some of the most generous people I have ever met. By the end of my presentation, they pledged to donate 32 bicycles or ($3,840, $120 for each bike) for the next two orphanages. I was moved and touched by their generosity and their willingness to help Bikes 4 Orphans and transform the lives of orphans. When I started this project, I never imagined people would be so willing to donate to causes like this and help make an impact on the world. My team and I are humbled and grateful.

The Rotary Club of Glendale (Noon) website: http://www.glendalerotarynoon.org/

The President of the Rotary Club, Natalie Komuro, and Sebouh Bazikian

Monday, August 5, 2013

Back from Kenya: Mission Accomplished

I just got back from an amazing & humbling trip to Kenya. The bikes were a huge hit! And I witnessed first hand the effectiveness & power of bikes in 3rd world countries.  The younger children were able to go to school (instead of walking for 2 hours which I personally experienced), 3 of the older orphans used the bikes to go to work  and one even was able to travel far and visit an extended family member for the 1st time in 2 years.

Here is a quick glimpse of the trip.  Video & complete album will be ready after August 15th.

Great job to our team and all the sponsors who made this possible.  Together we made the lives of 43 orphans better.

Sunday, June 9, 2013

$175 Donation from Arcadia High School Fruit Snack Sale!

One of our Bikes 4 Orphans team members, Kahui, organized a Fruit Snack Sale at Arcadia High School. He inspired many of his friends to help out with this fundraiser. After buying all the Fruit Snacks, Kahui and his classmates worked 10 hours throughout the week to sell all their Fruit Snacks. Their hard work was rewarded after they raised $175, enough to buy almost 2 bicycles. We encourage other teenagers and their high schools to participate and organize fundraisers to raise money for Bikes 4 Orphans. Us teenagers, do not have to wait for adults to make a difference in the world, we can make the difference ourselves just like Kahui and his classmates did!


Sunday, May 19, 2013

Warner Bro's Donation!



Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Volunteering Day!

Bikes 4 Orphans members attending volunteering day to put together care packages to send to the orphans at the Machao Orphanage. The care packages include basic hygiene items like shampoo, toothbrushes and etc. These are items these children desperately needed. Stay tuned for the next volunteering day!

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Bike-a-thon and Hike-a-thon!

Bring your family, friends, pets, and even strangers to our bike-a-thon and hike-a-thon at Mt. Wilson/Henninger Flats on June 15th. There will be music, food, speeches, and a raffle!

We are also looking for volunteers who can help us during our event. If you are a student, we will give your service hours!

If you are interested please email me at bikes4orphanages@gmail.com

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Meet our new volunteer!

A couple days ago, a teenager and a new friend approached me to offer his help with Bikes 4 Orphans. Kahui is an example of a teenager who has decided to combine his passion for cycling with charity. Like the rest of the Bikes 4 Orphans team, he is an avid cyclist. He is also part of the junior cycling team of the PAA (Pasadena Athletic Association), a prestigious cycling team and association. As an 11th grader at Arcadia High School, he has already taken initiative and has began making plans to organize a fundraiser at his school to raise more money and create public awareness about Bikes 4 Orphans.  He has already proven to be an valuable team member. With his help we can attract more cyclists to our Bike-a-thon at Mt. Wilson on June 2nd. Kahui is a great role model for future teenagers who want to be part of something greater than themselves and combine their passion with charity!

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Loco Motion 10K Run

We are proud to say that we are Community Partners for the Loco Motion 10k run scheduled on October 20, 2013. The race is meant to raise awareness and advocate for a safer and more accessible means of travel throughout Los Angeles and advocate for bike safety and promote the benefits of alternative transportation.  We encourage all of our supporters to participate in this great cause to show your support. You can visit their website/sign up here: http://www.locomotion10k.com/resources/ and make sure to like their Facebook page as well: https://www.facebook.com/LocoMotion10k 

Friday, April 5, 2013

Bikes 4 Orphans Facebook Page!

Come check out our Facebook page. We will be posting regular updates about the bike-a-thon and any other interesting news regarding our project. Please like the page to show your support about our cause. You can like the page if you click on this link: https://www.facebook.com/Bikes4Orphans

Monday, April 1, 2013

Peace First Prize

Recently we turned in our application for the Peace First Prize. This organization awards $50,000 to projects that promote peace, like ours. Bikes 4 Orphans promotes peace by donating bicycles to orphans so they will have the opportunity to go to school and receive a better education. This education will prevent them from living lives of violence and crime in a country where poverty rates are high and crime is prevalent. You can visit their website here and read about interesting projects they have funded to promote peace: http://www.peacefirst.org/prize/ .


Saturday, March 16, 2013

New Sponsors for the Bike-a-thon and $4200 raised!

I am pleased to announce that we have completed our goal of $4200 because of the generosity of 5 new sponsors. First of all I want to thank these sponsors:

The next challenge is to organize the Mountain Biking Event and to raise awareness for the project! 
We will be creating a new batch of T-shirts to include the logo of all these business!

Some of the Logos of these businesses currently available (will be updated after we receive the remaining logos)

 

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Buy Our T-shirts and help us raise money


Hi everyone! We have created our T-shirts that we will be wearing to meet with various  business for sponsorships. After we figure out the businesses that will be sponsoring Bikes 4 Orphans and the Mountain Biking event we will create a new batch of T-shirts.

You can buy these T-shirts at our Zazzle store: http://www.zazzle.com/bikes4orphans

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Happy Birthday Deena!

I knew that in order for this project to succeed, I needed to inspire teenagers to help these 42 orphans! I am honored and proud to say that this has come true, especially from a generous donation from a teenage girl, Deena. She just celebrated her 14th birthday. Most teenagers want to buy clothes, video games, shoes and other "stuff", but instead she decided to donate $300 from her birthday money to this cause. She is an inspiration to all teenagers, that we do have the power to change lives. Her generous gift will allow us to buy 3 bicycles for orphans, some of them which are teenagers like Deena and I. Her donation will change the lives of these three orphans forever and give them the precious gift of education. I hope Deena can be a role model to other teenagers! Thank you Deena for your support and for believing in this cause!

With her donation, I am pleased to say that we have now raised $3300! Only $900 until we reach our goal!



Wednesday, March 6, 2013

$500 from Armenian Youth Federation and $1000 from The Pollination Project

Talking to a 40 kids
about my project. You can
see the bike-a-thon route
on the projector
Hi everyone! I am pleased to announce that we have raised $3000 out of the $4200 needed. I am very grateful for the donation on behalf of the Armenian Youth Federation (AYF). After giving a presentation about Bikes 4 Orphans to 40 kids from ages 8-16, they donated $500 to this project. The good news does not end there. I have been applying for many grants in hopes of being awarded money for this cause and The Pollination Project has been very generous and donated $1000 to Bikes 4 Orphans. These past couple of days have really advanced this project toward our goal of $4200. Thank you so much to AYF, The Pollination Project and all the other donors.

In order to raise the rest of the $1200, we have planned bake sales at St. Francis High School, a dinner fundraiser at a local restaurant, and the Bike-a-thon in May.

Thank you so much to everyone who has helped with this project. We are changing the lives of 42 very deserving orphans!

             

Sunday, February 10, 2013

New Bike Route

The yellow line is the bike route, which is also a
 fire road. As you can see it is right on top of the mountain, 
the riders will have a gorgeous view of the city.
My friend, an adult adviser, and I have been deciding for a month and a half about where the bike route is going to be. Yesterday, we decided that the bike-a-thon is actually going to be a mountain biking event. We came to this conclusion because of two reasons. One is that a road biking event requires too many permits and documents are required to give you permission to set up a bike-a-thon in the streets of some city. Second is that a mountain biking event is much safer because there are no cars or traffic to worry about. The worst injury during a mountain biking event is falling on the dirt, however the worst injury in a road biking event is getting hit by a car. The bike route will take the rider on a beautiful trip along the mountains starting from Glendale (CA) to Burbank (CA). If you have any questions please comment on this post. I hope to see some of you at this Bike-a-thon!

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

$1350 raised and $2850 left to go

This is our new logo courtesy 
of Crank LA Clothing Store.
 Bikes4orphans.com is
 currently  under  construction 
and will be completed in  3 weeks
Wow! I am very pleased to say that because of the generosity of many people we have raised $1350 dollars and are one-third of the way completed. Thank you to all my supporters, I could not have done this without you. You have all changed the lives of these very deserving orphans. I can not wait to go to Kenya and show all the pictures of the orphans that now have the ability to go to school and a new sense of independence and hope because of your generosity. Remember that you can donate on the Machao Orphanage website if you click the link here.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

My Grandpa's donation


My beloved Grandpa passed away last Saturday  The night before he died he called me into his room to donate $200 to my project to donate 42 bicycles to the orphans at the Machao Orphanage in Kenya. He was very supportive of me and I want to dedicate this project to him as well as all the orphans. Throughout his life, he has constantly helped others in need, he is my inspiration and during his last day he did one more good deed before passing away. Rest in peace Grandpa.