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Save-A-Life Lite-A-Bike in Vietnam

By David Clark

A man never stands so tall as when he bends down to help a child.

Nighttime reflective values on bicycles are minimal to nonexistent in the Frontier Area of Vietnam. Bicycles usually come with a small red plastic reflector that inevitably is broken and missing. Roads in the Frontier Area are very narrow and have no street lights. There are many incidents involving bicycles at night on these small, unlit roads, sometimes with fatal results. Proper reflective enhancements on bicycles greatly reduce these incidents.

Children in the Frontier Area of Vietnam who live over three miles from school and do not have a bicycle are unable to attend school. We target these poor children and provide them with a bike. We have received thank-you letters saying that, unlike their parents or grandparents, they now have an opportunity to learn to read and write. Bicycles give these children not only life-enhancing but also life-changing opportunities.

Effective reflective enhancements on each bicycle cost about $6.00; a new bicycle delivered with proper reflective value is about $125.00. All donations go directly to the program; volunteers donate all expenses and administrative costs.

Tax-deductible donations may be made at www.vfp160.org/donate/

Make checks out to Veterans for Peace Chapter #69. Be sure to write; "Bicycles Vietnam" on the memo line.

Mail to:
Veterans for Peace Chapter #69
attn: Bicycles Vietnam
401 Van Ness Room 213C
San Francisco, CA 94102

David Clark is a Vietnam war veteran and Secretary/Treasurer of the VFP, Vietnam Ch. 160.