Highlights from 2017: Encouragement

Encouraging Oregon families to walk and ride with fun activities

As one of the six E’s of Oregon Safe Routes to School, ENCOURAGEMENT helps families and kids have fun while learning how to walk and ride their bikes in their communities.Here are two communities that encouraged their residents to get out and explore their neighborhoods.

Evening Community Walks in Beaverton
Fir Grove Elementary School in the Beaverton School District hosted a Community Walk this fall. The goal was to help families start a healthy habit, spend quality family time together, and build a sense of community. Each walk started with safety tips and a fun task for the walkers, such as counting dogs, streets crossed, and red doors.

Volunteers carrying different colored balloons led each route. A total of 588 people participated throughout the four nights. It was fun to hear walkers say: “Hey, that’s my house” and “That’s mine”….. “let’s walk together to school.” It was a great community event that offered healthy fun for all.

Traffic Gardens at Parties in the Park
Throughout the summer, the Eugene-Springfield SRTS program attended outdoor partner events in both cities to spread enthusiasm about biking to kids. Eugene-Springfield SRTS created pop-up traffic gardens for hundreds of riders of all abilities at the City of Eugene’s Party in the Park and Sunday Street events and Springfield Willamalane’s Children’s Celebration. Using bikes from their Bike Safety Education fleets, Eugene-Springfield SRTS even loaned out helmets as well as pedaled and balance bikes for those who didn’t have their own. Several kids learned to ride a bike for the first time and many more honed their skills and had a blast doing it.