As a part of our relationship with our largest corporate partner, Franciscan Alliance, we had the chance to be able work together with them for an employee wellness program called, “Pedaling for Tomorrow.” The program, which began in early May and concluded in mid July, gave the employees of Franciscan Alliance the opportunity to dust off their old bikes in the garage and utilize the bicycle as a way to highlight the importance of cycling and exercise for an individuals overall health and well-being, for their families overall health and well-being, environmental preservation, stress reduction, and social engagement.

The program included informative links and material on cycling and cycling events around the Central Indiana area, incentives to reward the participants hard work, Bicycle Garage Indy (BGI) clinic schedule dates and information, an educational monthly newsletter for program participants, a personalized Facebook page for the program, and the tracking of participants cycling activities, including duration, distance, speed, pace, elevation, calories burned, and route traveled on the interactive “Map My Ride” app.  In addition to all of this, the program included a day where employees could give their unused bikes to be donated to our friends at “Freewheelin’ Community Bikes to capture kids’ interest and engage them in activities that teach them life skills, good health habits, and leadership. The employees ended up donating 19 bicycles for   Lastly, to wrap up the program, we took our bikes to Franciscan St. Francis Hospital for a “Bicycle Challenge” for the employees to participate in. This two-day event gave us the opportunity to interact with many of our friends at Franciscan, as well as meet their new CEO, Dr. Callaghan!

We had many employees on our bikes during our time at Franciscan St. Francis, including their new CEO, Dr. Callaghan!

Altogether, we had 54 individuals participate in the inaugural, “Pedaling for Tomorrow” program and with that, we’re enthused to have made such a positive influence on each one of them. We’re looking forward to making this a yearly program and influencing even more people next year! Also, we want to thank Franciscan for their collaboration and all that they do for Nine13sports!