Photo courtesy of NavajoYES
ThinkFirst Navajo, Eve’s Fund’s injury prevention education program, has donated 100 bike helmets to the Diné Bike Project in recognition of Brain Injury Awareness Month, which occurs each year in March.
The Dinê Bike Project, a program of NavajoYES provides restored bikes of all types to schools, communities and families across the Navajo Nation. Young people are given a bicycle and a bike helmet after they have donated some of their time to community service projects, such as restoring trails, repairing bikes, or volunteering at other youth events. Some of the older children enjoy helping their elders with restoration and repair.
Photo courtesy of NavajoYES
Each child will be properly fitted for their new helmet and they will be required to take the Helmets on Heads pledge that they will “always wear a bike helmet, on every ride, near or far, fast or slow.” The children also promise that they will remind their friends and family to wear one also.
NavajoYES thanks Eve’s Fund/ThinkFirst Navajo
NavajoYES director, Tom Riggenbach said: “We deeply appreciate Eve’s Fund’s commitment to ensuring that all of our young riders are “safe riders” and that they are being protected with helmets. ThinkFirst Navajo’s helmet initiative teaches kids at a young age that the only way to avoid brain and other injuries while riding on bikes, horses, off-road vehicles, skateboards, or participating in other sports like football and skiing, is to wear protective head gear.” For more information on all of NavajoYES’ health and fitness programs, visit their website at: https//navajoyes.org.
Photo courtesy of NavajoYES
Community Initiatives Support from Eve’s Fund
Barbara Crowell Roy, Eve’s Fund president, added: “through our Community Initiatives Funding “we have been a proud supporter of many NavajoYES programs for many years. NavajoYES shares our mission of promoting health and wellness among Native youth, with the objective of empowering young people to positively affect the world around them. We love the idea that the bike project encourages kids to become actively engaged as volunteers in their communities by working on projects that are important to them. In essence, the kids have to “earn” their bikes and helmets, so it becomes very meaningful for them.”
March is Brain Injury Awareness Month
Brain Injury Awareness Month, recognized each March, provides an important opportunity to bring attention to the prevention of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and to promote strategies to improve the quality of life for persons living with TBI and their families. Here are important facts about brain injuries.
During Brain Injury Awareness Month, Jodee Dennison, volunteer chapter director of ThinkFirst Navajo said: “We are pleased to support NavajoYes’ Diné Bike Project once again with the goal of keeping kids out on the trails safe at all times.” Dennison added: “So many people don’t understand the serious and often irreversible ramifications of suffering a traumatic brain injury, and the fact that they are almost always preventable. The evidence is clear that bicycle helmets can reduce the risk for head injuries by 85%. That’s why we teach kids to ‘Think First and use your minds to protect your bodies’.”
Eve’s Fund acknowledges the generosity of its donors and helmet supplier
Eve’s Fund president, Barbara Crowell Roy, has acknowledged the generosity of individuals and organizations who support Eve’s Fund financially: “We are grateful to the people who believe in the importance of the work we are doing on the Navajo Nation, in our daughter Eve Erin Crowell’s name and memory. Without their gifts to Eve’s Fund, year after year, these helmet donations would not be possible.” She added: “We are also grateful to the supplier of these high-quality, certified kids safety helmets. The wholesaler partners with over ten thousand organizations nationwide in efforts to promote bike safety. As a result, we are able to purchase retail value helmets at a considerable discount .”
How you can help
If you live on or near the Navajo Nation and want to schedule a free safety presentation in your community, or want to consider starting an injury prevention program in your area, please contact us at: https://evecrowellsfund.org/contact-us/.
We would like to put more helmets on the heads of the Navajo children served by our programs. Your $10 donation to our ThinkFirst Injury Prevention Program will enable Eve’s Fund to purchase a certified helmet which could save a child’s life or prevent a catastrophic injury. Help us reach our goal of putting 100 more helmets on the heads of Navajo kids this summer by making a donation today!
Click on the button below to donate online or you can send a check to us at:
Eve’s Fund for Native American Health Initiatives
PO Box 3592
Newport, RI 02840
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