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August 30th, we pedal a revolution! Bikers, cyclists, commuters, and striders will take to their wheels in solidarity with the Afghan women that dare to ride, and in remembrance of the women that dared to ride before and in doing so, paved the way for independent mobility and freedom for women around the world.
The Afghan women will be riding too, so that on August 30th no matter where you are the in world, men and women will be spinning their wheels on concrete and in dirt, united in the freedom of a bike!
Find out more here.
Mountain2Mountain was founded in November 2006 by Shannon Galpin. Shannon took action on her deep conviction that all women and girls deserve the same rights and opportunities as her own daughter. She walked away from her career as an athletic trainer and used her own limited funds to launch M2M and "be the change" she wished to see in the world. Shannon recruited volunteers and donors and developed collaborative partnerships with others working across the globe to create a voice and empower women and girls in conflict zones. After collaborating on two projects in Pakistan and Nepal, Shannon travelled to Afghanistan to develop M2M's initial projects.
Today, M2M is a burgeoning nonprofit that has touched the lives of hundreds of men, women and children. M2M has launched projects across Afghansitan to create opportunities that were unimaginable ten years ago. In 2009, Shannon became the first woman to ride a mountain bike in Afghanistan in an effort to challenge perceptions of gender barriers and show a different side of Afghanistan back home. She returned in 2010 with her bike again to ride across the Panjshir Valley which was documented in Outside Magazine.
After visiting several women's prisons across Afghanistan, Shannon found herself in the women's prison of Kandahar contemplating the power of voice. This led to the next evolution of Mountain2Mountain's programming expanding out Afghanistan with our first domestic program. We believe in the power of voice as a catalyst for social action, and now we are using that founding vision along with the power of voice to spark action in the US to createStrength in Numbers, launching summer 2013. Using the mountain bike as a vehicle for social justice with survivors of gender violence to create a ripple of change through our communities.
In January 2013, Mountain2Mountain launched Combat Apathy as our activist wing. Amplifying voice and sharing resources to fight for women, we have build a foundation with 15 ambassadors that have commited to use their voice and their talents to create a movement that takes action.
Find out more about the work of Mountain2Mountain at their website.