Doing Good Things on a Bike, The Guardsmen Tour

We are happy to announce that we are supporting the Guardsmen Tour, a charity bike ride benefiting at risk youth. We will be providing mechanical support the morning of the event and with any luck, one or two of us will also be riding. We will be hosting a few events and rides leading up to the ride so stay tuned for details. Until then, here's the what and why.

 The Guardsmen are a San Francisco Bay Area based group that has been working to better the lives and educational opportunities of inner city, at risk youth since 1947. In a time when public schools are closing, classrooms are overcrowded, teachers are overwhelmed and kids are losing hope, this is more important than ever. By sending children to summer camps, outdoor educational programs and by providing scholarship programs, The Guardsmen help provide experiences and opportunities that most inner city kids would otherwise never be exposed to. 

Why are we involved? At Bespoke, we are approached almost daily by charitable organizations for support and donations. We want to be sure that the organizations we support are legitimate and that the money goes where it's supposed to. In the case of The Guardsmen, 90 cents out of every dollar goes to the kids. The other reason is that supporting at risk youth happens to be something we feel is very important. we also know and occasionally get to ride with some of The Guardsmen members who started the Tour. Our goal is to help them gain exposure for the event and in doing so, increase the number of participants each year. The more people riding, the more of these kids get a chance to build a better life and in the long run, a better community for all of us.

At Bespoke, we want to make sure that our business impacts our community, our world, in as positive a way as possible. We've been supporters of several local and national charity groups since day one here and we are always looking for new ways in which we can make a difference. It's our belief that by helping others, we're helping ourselves. It's our belief that doing good is good business. This is one of the reasons our shop is the way it is. We work with like minded companies that share our passions. The bottom line is all too real but it's not the only thing that matters. 

We encourage you to come out and support this growing, local, charity bike ride. Yes, you have to raise money but it's really not that hard and it's for a great cause. If you have any questions about the ride or the organization, we're here to help.