Marilyn Price Founded Trips for Kids

Shelah Moody, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, August 17, 2008

Longtime environmentalist and bicycle enthusiast Marilyn Price uses her passions to improve the lives of poor children. In 1986, Price founded Trips for Kids, a Marin County nonprofit that provides job training and outdoor activities for young people.

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"We take about 1,300 to 1,500 kids a year on daylong mountain bike rides, through Marin County, state and national parks," she said.

While she once aspired to become a social worker, she found that organizing mountain bike adventures was the perfect outlet for her to help young people. Price got the idea more than 20 years ago when she was biking on Mount Tamalpais.

"I was looking across the city; I used to volunteer at St. Anthony Dining Room, and I was remembering that area and the kids that used to live there," she said. "I thought it would be nice to bring them on a mountain bike ride to Mount Tam."

Since it incorporated as a nonprofit in 1988, Trips for Kids has benefited 14,520 children from more than 300 Bay Area schools and youth-service agencies. In 1999, it became a national program; it now has 64 chapters in the United States and Canada.

"For seasoned bicyclists, the day trips don't seem difficult, but for the children, it's a new experience, being out on a mountain bike, and going for several hours at a time," Price said. "It's a real challenge. ... They learn that if they just stick with it, they can make it. They get the encouragement of volunteers and the other kids."

In 1994, Price and the Trips for Kids staff opened the Re-Cyclery at 610 Fourth St. in San Rafael, which Price says is the largest bicycle thrift shop in the country.

"We also get donations from bicycle manufacturers around the country," she said. "(Re-Cyclery) helps provide affordable transportation for people and funds more than 50 percent of Trips for Kids."

The Earn a Bike Program, which was set up primarily for children in San Rafael's low-income Canal district, is a major component of Trips for Kids. The program teaches kids how to fix bikes so they can earn points toward bikes of their own.

As executive director of Trips for Kids, Price rode on biking trips for 10 years. Now she works 70 hours a week in the office. Price, 67, who has two adult children and four grandchildren, also spends 45 minutes a day riding her mountain bike to stay in shape. She said her goal is for Trips for Kids to become as prominent as the Boys and Girls Club of America.

"We are very proud to have started this idea in Marin and to have it take hold across the country," Price said. "It's a testimonial to what we're doing and to just how much people love the mountain bike."

For more information, go to www.tripsforkids.org