Hello  – 

Bike give-away winner, new apps, kittie rescue, and a statement from our leadership in our July Newsletter!

Statement from our leadership team:

As many of you are aware, there has been increased attention to and discussion of racial injustice in the past few weeks--particularly centred in the United States. While we represent a global network of bicycle travellers, this has prompted our team to think about systemic racism within and outside the bike community, and what our responsibilities are as an organization to help build a better society for all people. 

Wamshowers Foundation values inclusivity and diversity. We believe that exchanging differences is part of what makes bike touring and hosting such a rich experience, and we want our users to be able to share their unique stories with one another in a welcoming and respectful manner. We recognize however that cycling and the cycling community are not free from the impact of racism. From the lack of black riders among the professional leagues, to safety concerns for people of colour on the road and in the outdoors, to lack of bike infrastructure in poor, predominantly black neighborhoods, there are unique barriers people of colour face in accessing cycling.

We want to do more to make this community accessible for everyone and to make sure that, as an organization, we are upholding our values in every aspect of our platform’s functioning. As such, we have committed to taking the following action. (please click here to see the full statement)

The Results are In!

This year we are thrilled with the response to the Bike Giveaway!! Here are the details:

Fundraising goal exceeded!  $35,000 was raised, thank you!
Number of donors decreased to less than 5% of our community participating in the fundraising event, and for those we are extremely grateful!

We didn't meet our goal of increasing to 50% of registered users but did reach our overall fundraising goal! If every single registered user donated just $10 we would be able to do incredible things!

Its not too late to make a donation now, use the link below.

CONGRATULATIONS TO SU, from the UK and here is her response:

"Winning this bike genuinely means a lot to me. For about 18 months I was planning a world tour with my partner, before the global pandemic happened. We would have been setting off around this week. Several months ago when we were still planning it, blissfully unaware of anything called Covid-19, Warmshowers felt like a lifeline. None of that is going to happen for some time now, but this bike will make an enormous difference in my life, regardless. I really really hope I get to cycle it round the world one day."

Thank you to everyone that participated!

As you know, Warmshowers Foundation is fully donor supported and like every organization -- it takes money to operate! We appreciate YOU!

Moving forward we will continue to ask users to make an annual donation and participate in the Bike Giveaway. It keeps the site running!

Thank YOU! Thank YOU! Thank YOU!!

Have you checked out our new podcast yet?  We have features some amazing guests, stories and information.  Check it out below (or on any of your favorite listening app) and stay tuned as new episodes are live on Wednesdays!

A Section for News on using Warmshowers.org Technology

1.Apps are COMING....we've been hard at work to develop new in-house apps that will allow you ease of access to the site, maps, accessing hosts, respond to requests and more.  We are expecting a roll out date later this year.  Stay tuned.

2. Inactive Users: a gentle reminder to login to your profile and make sure it is up to date.  If you have not logged in nor responded to any email (or sent one) through our platform in the last 2 years, you will soon be notified that your account will be deactivated.  To ensure our community truly reflects active hosts and cyclists, we are re-implementing removal of inactive users.  So check in on your account (replying to this newsletter will NOT update your account), maybe add a new photo or two and you'll be good to go!

3. Forums: the forums have resumed with NEW headings to provide you the most up-to-date information from our community.  Check them out and see if you have someting to add.

On tour, you never totally know what will happen. This story teaches a lesson you can learn from the smallest of creatures. While touring in Azerbaijan, Aline and Magda found a starving baby cat in the middle of nowhere. Suddenly the trip had a new passenger as they didn't hesitate. They took the sweet kitten onboard,

traveling in their handlebar bag for the next four days, spending the night in the tent with them. The little cat quickly got used to her life in the handlebar bag.

But of course that was not a permanent solution. So a new home for the kitten had to be found. The search for a "forever home" for her was helped by Claire, a Warmshowers host living in an expat community. Watch their adventures with Iki and the important lesson she taught them.

Click here to watch the video.