Today’s post is a continuation of the cycling non-profit posts we’ve been sharing lately. We at Hummingbird House are passionate about cycling (our founder runs two popular cycling blogs at barthaynes.com and bartonhaynes.com) and are excited to spread the news when bicycles and good deeds are being combined.

Yield to Life is a charity that we recently discovered that hits close to home for many avid cyclists. Unfortunately, many bicycle riders can attest to the fact that cycling on the street can be a dangerous business. Car drivers and cyclists don’t always have the best relationships. Yield to Life’s goal is to stop this negative attitude and turn it around.

On Yield to Life’s About Us page, they share their mission:

Yield to Life will engage in a vigorous awareness campaign to promote positive attitudes toward cyclists and replace any hostility that exists between motorists and cyclists with understanding, respect, and appreciation for all life on the road. Safety for every cyclist is the top priority of Yield to Life.

The mission statement goes on to say, “Cycling is a healthy, life-affirming, environmentally-sound activity that adds value to anyone’s life. Since cyclists’ lives are often in motorists’ hands, motorists must understand the vital role they play in a cyclist’s safety.”

The founder of Yield to Life, David Zabriskie, has been a professional cyclist since 2001. In the 2005 Tour de France, Zabriskie rode the fastest time trial in Tour de France history beating Lance Armstrong and wearing the highly coveted yellow jersey during the first few days of the race.

When asked why Zabriskie started Yield to Life, he shared his story:

As a professional cyclist I have ridden my bike all over the world, but, sadly, each of the three times that I have been hit by a car has been in the United States; the worst of the accidents was in 2003. I had just flown back to Salt Lake after my most successful season to date when, on May 23, I was in Millcreek Canyon in Salt Lake City. I was enjoying one of my favorite rides when I was hit by an SUV on the way down. The SUV made a left hand turn directly into me. I flew through the air and landed on the ground, unable to move the left side of my body. After spending a week in the hospital, I left with pins in my wrist and my leg, and some cadaver bone in my knee. The doctors did not think I would ride again.

Due to a great deal of hard work, Zabriskie recovered and was able to ride again. His experiences being hit while cycling drove him to make road conditions better and safer for bicycle enthusiasts.

“It is my mission to humanize and personalize cyclists to help motorists to always be aware that we are life and that we deserve a safe space on the road,” Zabriskie explains on the website. “Yield to Life is a non-profit organization devoted to creating a safer environment for cyclists and, by so doing, encouraging more people to ride for their own health, the good of the environment and the well being of society. By making cycling safer and promoting the activity as a responsible means of transportation and a healthy means of recreation, Yield to Life can contribute to tackling some of today’s major concerns—from such issues as pollution and global warming to obesity and diabetes. In this way, Yield to Life can play a role in increasing the quality of life not only for cyclists, but for everyone—for our generation and those to come.”A helpful feature of the Yield to Life website includes their Safety Tips for Cyclists and Motorists page. One tip shared for cyclists is: Make sure you are always aware of your surroundings. Know what is behind you and watch out for what is in front of you. Always be on the lookout for road hazards; sand and gravel, glass, railroad tracks, parked cars, snow and slush can wreak havoc on you and your bike. One tip for motorists is: Watch out for cyclists when you are turning right. A bicyclist may well be to the right of you and planning to go straight at the same intersection. Do not speed ahead of the bicyclist thinking you can negotiate the turn before they reach your car.

If you find yourself being drawn to this non-profit, you can sponsor this charity by sending an email to yieldtolife@gmail.com. You can also donate to Yield to Life on their Donation page.

Today, we’re changing up the pace of the blog a bit by sharing some inspiration that will hopefully stimulate our readers to help and give to those who they interact with directly in their own lives. Furthermore, we wanted to share some ideas with you that didn’t necessarily involve donating funds to an established organization. There are many ways to be charitable without sending money to a charity.

On our Hummingbird House Foundation Pinterest page, we dedicate an entire board to collecting ideas about Random Acts of Kindness. This is where we are drawing our influence from today.

What exactly is a Random Act of Kindness?

According to makeadiff.wordpress.org, it is “…a selfless act performed by kind people to either help or cheer up a random stranger, for no reason other than to make people happier. Either spontaneous or planned in advance, RAoKs are encouraged by various online and offline communities.”

The idea to perform random acts of kindness became more widespread about twenty years ago. After the movie “Pay It Forward” came out, the notion of doing good deeds for others randomly and unexpectedly spread like wildfire.

Now, there are stories all over the Internet about people who have peformed extraordinary and not-so-extraordinary acts of kindness. These random acts can range in simplicity from giving a compliment or paying for someone’s coffee to something greater, like purchasing a plane ticket for someone who can’t afford to see a loved one or taking someone lonely into your family.

Today, we’ll share 25 random acts of kindness that impressed us. Our hope is that they will impress you, too.

25 Random Acts of Kindness

1. Put a surprise note or sketch in with your spouse’s or kid’s lunch.
2. Write a love note and hide it in a magazine your partner is reading or somewhere else he/she will find it.
3. Call a parent or grandparent to say hello, give them thanks, or simply to tell them you love them.
4. Tell someone the truth. Sometimes it’s really hard, but it’s what friends do.
5. Send a letter just to “let you know how much I care about you.”
6. Keep an extra umbrella at work, so you can lend it out when it rains.
7. Sincerely compliment your boss, who probably doesn’t often get feedback from his or her reports.
8. When people are gossiping about someone, be the person to chime in with something nice.
9. Learn the names of your office security guard, the person at the front desk and other people you see every day. Greet them by name. Also say “hello” to strangers and smile.
10. Invite someone to dinner – especially at the holidays, when it is difficult for some people to be alone.
11. When making dinner, get ingredients for one more helping. Then, put the extra portion in a spare container and give it to a neighbor, drop it by a friend’s house, or pass it on to a homeless man or woman.
12. Leave your neighbors a note that tells them how much joy you find in admiring their garden.
13. Let another car merge in front of you, or stop to let a pedestrian cross the street.
14. Carry around a $5 gift card so you can give it to someone who does something awesome.
15. Purchase some extra dog or cat food and drop it off at an animal shelter.
16. Donate your vacation or sick days to a person at work who is struggling with an illness.
17. Give someone a book you think they’d like.
18. If you are in a long line, invite the person behind you to go first.
19. Offer to return a shopping cart to the store for someone loading groceries in their car.
20. To melt away his or her blues, send a friend a funny video from YouTube.
21. Hang a sign on a bulletin board that says “Take What You Need” — with tear-off tabs at the bottom for Love, Hope, Faith, and Courage.
22. Help a friend see today in a wondrous new light: Hand him or her a kaleidoscope.
23. Leave a bouquet at the hospital — the nurses will know who needs it the most.
24. Forgive someone. Repeat as necessary.
25. Ask others — sincerely — what you can do to help.

Following up from last week’s post all about the bicycle non-profit called People for Bikes, we’re going to share another bike-related organization with you today called the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA). Yet again, this charity weighed in with perfect scores across the board on Charity Navigator to earn a place on the Hummingbird House list.

The International Mountain Bicycling Association is a 501(c)3 non-profit educational association. According to their About page, their mission is:

To create, enhance, and protect great places to ride mountain bikes.

Their vision is to engage a million riders to stand up to cultivate and protect mountain biking trails. To achieve this, IMBA hopes to create a powerful voice for trails, public lands, and management policies that welcome bikes. They advocate for mountain bike access and acceptance in addition to building sustainable trails and bike facilities to make mountain biking more accessible. Furthermore, they teach environmentally responsible trail building and etiquette practices. By doing all of this, IMBA is working to inspire people to experience the great outdoors on the saddles of mountain bikes. Currently, the organization includes over 40,000 bike lovers. Members live across the globe and are helping to make mountain biking better at their local areas.

IMBA was founded in 1988 by a group of California mountain bike clubs concerned about the closure of trails to cyclists. This group had a belief that education programs geared towards mountain bikers should be developed and promoted in order to preserve access to trails. To read more about the journey of IMBA, check out their History page for a detailed timeline of the organization’s first 20 years.

IMBA currently keep their headquarters in Boulder, Colorado. The non-profit has over 50 full-time staff members including region directors spanning the United States. Their staff is continuing to grow as the non-profit experiences more success and attention. To view a full list of IMBA’s departments and staff, see their Staff Directory.

An important aspect of IMBA’s work worthy of sharing is their Chapter Program. According to their website, “The chapter program is IMBA’s initiative to create a unified voice for mountain bikers. Simply put, the mountain bike movement is stronger when local and national organizations work in tandem to create great trail experiences. IMBA has the professional full-time staff, the database capabilities and the institutional knowledge to make an impact, while local clubs have the relationships and (most importantly) the trails. Together, we can increase access and bring more people to the ride!”

To understand more about IMBA’s Chapter Program, watch the video below:

By taking a look at IMBA’s event calendar, you can see that the organization works hard to put together outreach programs that furthers the sustainment of mountain biking trails. A notable event that the non-profit runs is called Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day. This event, occurring this year on October 7th, strives to encourage communities across the country and around the world to join together and ride mountain bikes with kids. The theme of the year is based on IMBA’s four tenants: speak, build, respect, and ride. Last year, 0ver 15,000 kids and families participated in local events inspired by Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day. To read more about this event or to see photos from years past, check out IMBA’s Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages.

Clearly, IMBA is doing loads of good on the mountain biking frontier. They are inspiring communities worldwide to become more active and make trails safer and more accessible. If this non-profit is tugging on your heartstrings, there are multiple ways to get involved and support IMBA. You can Become a Member, Donate to IMBA, or Shop at the IMBA E-Store. To find out more, read specific articles on the IMBA blog and discover more on their Resources page.