We are thrilled to announce that our Holiday Bazaar will be launching ONLINE this year for the first time ever! The virtual Holiday Bazaar will be conducted through our website on mitrata.org from November 9th to November 30th. We have a great selection of handmade, fair trade products from Nepal that will be posted on the website just in time for holiday shopping right around the corner! (Hard to believe, right?!) This year, for those in St. Louis who prefer it, we will also have curbside pickup available in early December.

This launch of e-Commerce is the first of this scale that we have ever done, and Mitrata is excited to move into this direction to open up our beautiful products from Nepal to those outside of St. Louis. Come check our products when they launch on November 9th to see what goodies we have for sale!

Miles for Mitrata Kids blew us all away in its first year. Both teams surpassed their 7,500 mile and dollar goal to make it to Kathmandu and collected enough miles in between that for a combined trip back! AND our participant t-shirts are now on the way! We are excited for our participants to wear them and share their memories of this event.

We want to take another moment to thank our participants and donors and to highlight our two event sponsors, Bike Stop Cafe and Bayer! Both of these sponsors were integral in helping our event be successful. Many members of Bike Stop Cafe in St. Louis were also participants in the event this year, and a few talked with us about Mitrata, the event, and their friend and Team St. Louis’s Captain, Danny Wiliger:

My discovery of the great work of the Mitrata organization was through Danny Williger. I have been a committed bicycle commuter and advocate for biking for years. Friendships and camaraderie are a big part of the cycling community as well as the opportunity to support charitable organizations through group rides.
I have fond memories of cycling with Danny and the Bike Stop Cafe team during the Cycle for Life Cystic Fibrosis ride several years ago when he had just returned from a transformative visit to Nepal where he had been able to meet with the Mitrata children and see first hand the work that was being done there. Danny was terribly jet lagged and we even rode through a brief but fierce hail storm that day, but his enthusiasm was infectious and I was inspired by his description of the transformative work of Mitrata. I hope that I will be able to raise funds to support the work of Mitrata and help children on the path to a brighter future.
— Sarah

From David Carpenter:

When I re-started cycling seriously about 4 years ago, I decided I’d involve myself in the local charity fundraising rides as a focus of my cycling. It seemed like a good way to combine an activity I love with helping causes worth supporting, and also I found it was a great way to meet good cyclists, and great people.
I got involved with Miles for Mitrata through one of those great people, by meeting Danny Williger. I learned more about the terrible poverty, health, and educational conditions affecting the children of Nepal. I was encouraged to learn of the work Mitrata was doing, and moved by the many pictures Danny sent back of the children there, so to honor and raise money for Miles for Mitrata Kids, I rode over 300 miles in September. I’m confident that these efforts will help to make conditions better for the children of Nepal, particularly in improving their education and health, giving them a brighter future.
— David

And help they did! BSF distributed educational supplies to our children a few weeks ago, and we hope that these will help facilitate learning and keep our kids on track with their education in this difficult time. Thank you to everyone who made this possible!

Holiday Bazaar Announcement & Thanking M4MK Sponsors, New T-Shirts!

Happy Tihar to All!

LAST WEEK of Miles for Mitrata Kids