Omprakash Bicycle Outreach Tour

Seattle to San Francisco

This fall, Omprakash Volunteer and Grant Recipient Vance Walstra will be traveling from Seattle to San Francisco on a highly anticipated, first-ever tour to raise awareness for Omprakash - and he's doing it all by bicycle. The tour will span three states and cover nearly 1000 miles to deliver over 15 presentations to colleges, universities and high schools along the route.
 

Committed Volunteers

In 2008, Vance was awarded an Omprakash Volunteer Grant to work with Helping Hands, an education and environmentally-focused Partner in Cusco, Peru. During that trip, he also traveled throughout Peru introducing new non-profit Partners to the Omprakash network. In 2010, Vance returned to Peru to act as a guide for three high-school students interested in creating a documentary film about Omprakash Partners and the international volunteer experience. In between these trips, Vance has traveled to several schools throughout the western United States, giving presentations and collaborating with classrooms and teachers to design and enrich service learning programs. 

Meanwhile, Lacey Worel, another committed former grant recipient, has been helping Vance plan a bike trip so that he can share his volunteer experience with high schools, colleges and universities between Seattle and San Francisco. If you are a student or educator in the American Northwest and are interested in inviting Vance to your campus, please contact info@omprakash.org.

Tour Vision and Schedule

As Vance put it, "My own experiences through Omprakash have subjected me to an entirely new understanding of our world. I have developed a new faith in human potential that has both empowered and humbled me... Through this trip, I hope to connect the passion and potential of individuals who seek to make a difference in the world, to the people and places where those type of individuals are needed."

Vance's tour will end with an Omprakash celebration in San Francisco on November 11, 2011. Please visit us on Facebook and follow Vance’s trip via the stories he posts on his Omprakash profile.  If you are in the area, please join us!

Tour Schedule:

Oct 4-6: Seattle, WA

University of Washington
10/5/11
2:00pm - 3:00pm
Thomson Hall, Room 317
-and-
4:30pm - 6:00pm
Program of the Environment (POE) Commons
012 John M. Wallace Hall (ACC)
3737 Brooklyn Ave NE

Seattle Central Community College
10/6/11
11:00am - 1:00pm
Table in Commons
-and-
1:30pm - 3:30pm
Classroom presentations, location TBA on campus

University of Washington, Tacoma
10/7/11
12:30pm
Carwein Auditorium (located inside the Keystone building)

Oct 11-14: Portland, Oregon

Reed College
10/11/11
11:45am - 1:15pm
Informational Table
-and-
4:30pm - 5:30pm
Presentation
Location for both events TBA on campus

University of Portland
10/12/11
11:30am - 6:00 pm
Informational Table @ Pilot House

Portland State University
10/13/11
10:00am - 10:20am
Dr. Jeremy Spoon, Applied Anthropology Class
Ondine building, 1912 SW Sixth Ave., Room 202

Portland Community College
10/14/11

Oct 17-18: Corvallis, Oregon

Oregon State University
10/18/11
2:00pm - 3:00pm
Professor Adry Clark's class
Classroom # TBA

Oct 19-20: Eugene, Oregon

Oct 27: Arcata, California

Nov 3: Palo Alto, California

Stanford University
"Away from Stanford Fair"
7:00pm - 9:00pm
Haas Center

Nov 4: Sonoma, California

Sonoma State
11/4/11
Informational Table
11:00 am - 1:00 pm
Presentation
2:00 pm

Nov 7-10: San Francisco Bay area

Laney College
11/8/11
11:00 am - 2:00 pm
Table located in Quad Area

San Francisco City College
11/9/11
11:00 am - 1:00 pm
Informational Table
 

Berkeley Community College
11/10/11

Nov 11: Final celebration & Fundraiser
Amnesia
853 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
Party begins at 7:00
Join us for a night of music and laughter with special guest Cello Joe, http://www.cellojoe.com/, a fabulous silent auction and great company!

Special thanks to our silent auction donors! For a list of items on auction, please click here.