Who Are You Guys?
We are a team of high school students with a passion for charity, art, and engineering. As part of our community service cirriculum, we build and race sculptures in the Kinetic Grand Championship and raise money for Betty Chinn's charity.
- This will be our fourth year racing.
- We have raised over $700 for Betty, and donated countless socks and cans of food.
- Betty is very successful in our community, recently recognized with a Presidential Citizens medal from Barack Obama.
Every dollar we receive will be used to help us race for Betty.
What We Need
This year, we are trying to "do it right". The first year we raced, our sculpture was nothing but two bikes welded together, braced with conduit and duct tape. The second year, we overcompensated and built a frame out of 2" water pipe that was at a minimum three times overly heavy and strong for our two pilots. All we could find at the junk yard were three differently sized motorcycle tires.
The third year, we realized that there were reasons the other team's sculptures were built the way they were-
- They wanted speed and lightweight construction
- They had money
We wanted the first and didn't have the second. We solicited donations from local businesses and were fortunate to be given enough metal to build a light and fast sculpture. We fundraised and scrounged the junk yard for other parts, managing to build a much improved sculpture for less than $450.
This year, we are at it once again. Our welders have been busy refurbishing last year's frame and our art team has designed a Roman Chariot theme for our new art. We have been fundraising, but we have large goals. Our most experienced welders and engineers are graduating this year and they want to build a sculpture that will last after they leave. The most complicated and maintenance-intense part of the sculpture are the bike parts that we use to drive the machine, something that we have to upgrade if the sculpture is going to last past this year.
Any money we raise here will be spent on
- Two new mountain bikes that will give us reliable speed changes and durability for future years
- A high quality coat of paint for the frame
- Incidental costs
What You Get
We have some pretty cool perks, if I might say so myself:
- Anyone who donates will get their names stamped into the frame, to be seen by generations to come.
- $30 and above can send us a logo, either personal or business, that will be prominently displayed on the machine.
- $100 and above will receive an artfully made, steel horse and chariot.
The Impact
Our project has real benefits both to the homeless of our community and local students. Our sculpture took fist place in the county Industrial Arts show last year, at the same time donating more that $300 to Betty Chinn.
If You Can't Donate
- Please help us out by sharing this on your Facebook, Twitter, etc.
