Though the day dawned hot and sticky, by the time Erin (my boss and RR Program Manager) and ten cyclists met near McCarren Park at 4.30 it was cooling down, and they set off to paint the town white and black- with RightRides posters advertising our free rides home to the women and transfolk of Brooklyn!
I watched Erin spend hours researching, planning and testing the Get to Know Your Borough Bike Ride route, and meeting with RR volunter extraordinaire Liz (see the post about her and her Volunteer of the Month award below). And it all paid off!
The Ride's participants worked hard spreading the word for us, but it wasnt' all labor- Erin planned stops along the way to showcase some of Brooklyn's finest and oddest sights. The "big hit" of the day, she told me, was the Brooklyn Navy Yard in North Brooklyn. Abandoned for almost half a century, the Navy Yard built battleships during WWII, as well as the first steam-powered battleship, and at its height employed over 70,000 people. Now, business is finally back: a manufacturing plant, Steiner Studios (of Spiderman 3 fame) and other small businesses are moving back into the historic buildings in the Yard.
The group of cyclists (a gaggle? A murder, even?) then moved south, hitting up Gimme Coffee! (on Lorimer, north of Grand St.) for some free drinks. Then it was on to Habana Outpost (on Fulton, south of Lafayette) for some free corn to refuel. In all, the ride wound its way around Brooklyn for about 15 miles, and was a great way to see our beloved borough while doing some good, and getting some free food!
Thanks to all who came out, to BUST Magazine for listing the event, and to Dikes on Bike-cycles for advertising the event and coming along for the ride.
Ok, mea culpa- the Clothing Swap happened a while ago, but trust me it's been a busy time for this RightRides intern. But thanks to Mary, one of the great ladies who organized the Clothing Swap at the Delancey for RightRides, I've got a few photos she took of the event. And what an event it was! Cheap drinks, free clothing, great prizes, great DJ AND a sword-swallowing hostess!
After picking up a great pair of pumps and a Calvin Klein sweater, my favourite sideshow queen Lady Aye announced the raffle winners and the prizes kept coming and coming! Clothing, subscriptions to Time Out and the New York Times, jewelry, a haircut at Beehive Salon, 10 free lessons at the Brooklyn Guitar School- it was crazy!
Then, Lady Aye performed her death-defying sword swallowing with the winner of her prize. Jessica was a little nervous (she blamed the fantastic drink specials onstage!) but she managed to pull a 19 inch steel sword from Lady Aye's mouth without killing her! I was terrified, and my boss and RightRides co-founder Oraia couldn't watch as Lady swallowed the sword, past 3 gag reflexes (the show is perfect for children- it's educational!) until it touched the bottom of her stomach- apparently she can feel it! Then she bent over and Jessica her new assistant got the go-ahead and wink and grabbed the hilt and pulled it out. Yikes!
Talking later, Lady Aye told me that sword-swallowing was a childhood dream of hers. But until she overslept and was late for her job in the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, missing the attacks, she never learned the craft. After 9/11, Lady Aye decided to grab life by the melons and apprenticed with a sideshow performer from Coney Island, learning to sword-swallow and perfecting her onstage performance. I had a great time talking to her and all the fans of RightRides who came out to support the program- hope to see you at the next event!
Put up RightRides posters around town for a good cause and a chance to win prizes like a free Reiki body treatment from Namaste Williamsburg, two tickets to a live BAM performance, free coffee and more!
To enter simply visit the official event page (HERE), follow the instructions and submit everything with the completed submission form to erin@RightRides.org.
Flyers can be downloaded from the website (HERE) and printed, or RightRides can send them to you in the mail. Simply e-mail erin@RightRides.org and ask for an outreach packet.
All photo submissions that are sent via e-mail must be in JPG format, with no less than 150 DPI. Any print submissions should be sent via snail mail c/o Erin to 26 Court St. STE 505 Brooklyn, NY 11242. E-mail erin@RightRides.org with any questions or to receive more information.
Hello there, my name’s Hugh, and I’m going to give you a little taster of what volunteering for RightRides means to me and what it involves, after just having volunteered for my first shift this weekend.
To start with though (and to jump in at the deep end) I think it’s worth covering the idealistic, personal bit. Why did I bother volunteering (and why should you, or anyone else?). Well, for me, the appeal of Rightrides rested in the fact that it offered a practical, simple response to the growing problem of gender-based sexual violence on New York’s streets. The issue is stark: more women, and those who identify as women, are suffering from this horrific crime. That's reason enough to volunteer.
However, I have another motivation. I'm a 21 year old heterosexual male. I do not want to preach or appear self-involved, but the fact remains that most crimes of sexual violence are committed by young, heterosexual men. By volunteering for RightRides I felt that I was combating this very real stereotype, and adding my voice to hetero men who deeply opposes violence against women.
But on to the practicalities. Volunteering for RightRides is, to put it simply, fun. You train for an evening, sign up for a Saturday shift, and pretty soon you’re on the road with a fellow volunteer from 12 -3 a.m., answering calls (and occasionally getting hopelessly lost!). On my own shift I went down to one of the operating garages in Chelsea, to meet up with my partner and find the Zipcar we were going to use. My partner turned out to be the very friendly Trin, who has the rather cool job of an ABC news producer. Out we went. New York on a summer evening is great to drive around, especially for me as a Brit- the Manhattan skyscrapers impressive as ever, twinkling in the night.
Still, there wasn’t a huge amount of time to admire the view. My job as navigator (Trin was driving) meant I had to constantly field calls from our dispatcher back at the office, so we could co-ordinate pick-ups. Taking our passengers home, we drove all over Brooklyn, chatting with our riders, and complaining about the incredibly poor quality of music on the radio on a Saturday night! Nothing but pop.
Somehow, though, we managed to survive, and soon, our time was up. Back we headed to Manhattan tired and quiet but content. RightRides also pays for a taxi ride home for its volunteers after a shift. I hopped into my taxi, little knowing that my cabbie clearly fancied himself as a Nascar champion, and drove accordingly. I clung to the strap as we raced back to my apartment, eyelids drooping. Job done, and time for bed!
Hey y'all, it's Kasia the Intern here again. I wonder if you're facing the same dilemma as I am this weekend; I want to go shopping for that perfect outfit, but I don't have any money and my closet (well, OK, my nails in the wall- it's a sublet) is already full of stuff I never wear anyways.
RightRides to the rescue once again! Not only will RightRides drive you home for FREE this Saturday night (between 12 am and 3 am), but we're also hosting a mega Clothing Swap at The Delancey this Sunday (July 13) from 4 pm to 7.30 pm.
The way a clothing swap works is you bring those clothes that you bought and thought would be great, but then ended up actually being too big/too small/the wrong shade for your skin/waaay to short, and then you trade 'em for clothes that are just right for you! Best thing is, it'll only cost you $5 at the door, AND your swapping will be accompanied by performances from the fab DJ Codec and side show queen the Lady Aye.
This event will be perfect for bargain queens, eco warriors, and all of you who want something different and fun to do for $5! I'll be there swapping, snapping pictures and getting ready to blog about it first thing Monday morning (I love my job). See you there!
When Oraia and Erin hired me as the summer intern for RightRides, I was thrilled to pack my bags and leave my native Toronto for a summer adventure, fighting sexual violence in the Big Apple! It’s only been a few weeks, but in that short time I’ve discovered Brooklyn and become an entrenched Brooklynite (shout out to South 9th and Bedford!), saw the Murakami exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum, been to so many free concerts and events, and have spent hours looking for the best and cheapest sushi place in the Five Boroughs (I’m still looking if you’d like to help…)
I’ve also had a crash course about the inner, everyday workings of RightRides from Erin, and have jumped in feet first, learning and helping in any way I can. The first two weeks I focused entirely on RightRides’ newest program, the Community Action News Network. CANN is going to be a great way to reach out to high school students and young people, letting them speak with their own voices through short video pieces addressing the causes, effects and atrocities of gender-based violence.
This is a program I’m really excited about because of my own experience with video; in 2006, I was lucky enough to get to go to Zambia with 10 fellow students and make a documentary about the lives of teenagers there. Not only did I learn an immense amount about development and humanity from studying the content of the film and meeting people with mind-boggling courage and intelligence, but for the first time I felt empowered as an activist. It’s a great feeling which I hope will be felt by our CANN creators.
I did a lot of research, made a lot of calls- I even made a YouTube video (how embarrassing!)- and now have some great women on CANN’s Advisory Board. Some have a background in media advocacy, some in film and television production, some in education, some are youth advisors, but all have committed their time and expertise to CANN, and I’m very excited for our first meeting, where I’ll get to be in a room filled with amazing people! And, of course, we’ll start creating the CANN curriculum with the decades of collective field experience that these women have.
While I’m gearing up for the first CANN Advisory Board meeting, I’ve also been working on other things. I just finished revamping our Dispatcher and Volunteer Manuals (with a little help from Word Art, thank you very much) and I hope my acute sense of grammar has contributed something. I’m also helping to get donations from businesses for the RightRides Social’s Silent Auction (September 18th at The Delancey, details to follow), and I won’t give anything away BUT, trust me, you want to be there. The deals will be as good as the like-new condition, black suede Ferragamo power-heels I just snagged for $50 (if that’s even possible- I love New York!)
I also went out in the field, so to speak, and hit the streets in a ZipCar Prius with RightRides volunteer extraordinaire Toby a few Saturday nights ago. I saw so much more of the city than I had managed to see in the previous few weeks! We went over several bridges several times, driving people from Williamsburg to SunsetPark, from the Bowery to Park Slope… I was the Navigator, but luckily (for everyone involved) Toby knew the streets of NYC’s Five Boroughs off the top of his head- I’ve got a terrible sense of direction but was unafraid; I was armed with many maps from our nifty Team Gold (or which color were we?) bag, and in constant contact with the Dispatcher Rachel, who was ready to track us through the GPS in our RightRides phone and show us the way from her computer! I must admit though, we missed a turn off and almost ended up in Long Island because I was engrossed in a conversation with our Riders, but they were very gracious anyways, and we got them home in plenty of time to get back to Chelsea and return the car before the 4.30 a.m. deadline. Plus, I had a great excuse to sleep in until noon on Sunday and go out for brunch- I had just spent all night saving the world! One safe ride home at a time…
The mission of RightRides For Women's Safety, Inc. is to build safer communities by reducing the risk of harassment and sexual assault by community organizing, offering direct service programs, plus fostering greater safety awareness and individual empowerment in our related educational programs.
In our central program, RightRides offers women, transgender and gender queer individuals a free, safe, late night ride home on Saturday nights from 11:59 PM - 3 AM, early Sunday morning in 35 NYC neighborhoods. To get a ride simply call 1-888-215-SAFE(7233) during the hours of operation.
Though the day dawned hot and sticky, by the time Erin (my boss and RR Program Manager) and ten cyclists met near McCarren Park at 4.30 it was cooling down, and they set off to paint the town white and black- with RightRides posters advertising our free rides home to the women and transfolk of Brooklyn!
