Building Community on Two Wheels: Gillian Horn and Boise Bicycle Project

This week on Nobody Knowz, we sit down with Gillian Horn from Boise Bicycle Project to talk about how bikes create belonging, how community-led organizations grow, and what it really takes to build a more connected Boise.

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Welcome to the Nobody Knowz podcast with Callie Zamzow Join us for conversations with local changemakers and hear the stories that don't always get told. It'll be honest, messy and beautiful. Touching and humorous. Slow down for a glass and pull up a chair. This is the nobody knows podcast. Welcome to Nobody Knowz. I'm your host, Callie Zamzow, and it's February. Here we are. We made it through, in my opinion, the longest month of the year. I always think January is just excruciatingly long, and, And I'm I'm feeling kind of successful. So, Jodi, I want to have a quick convo with you if you're, for it. Are you a, are you a January 1st? Like, do a New Year's resolution? Kind of a guy. I I'd like to think that I am, yeah, but I'm not always successful. Oh. So. But I can usually go for the longest month of the year, so I'm going to count that as a win. Oh, yeah. Well, there you go. So did you did you do anything? Did you like, commit to anything in January? Yeah, I'm eating better. And I'm actually this is kind of funny because I'm, I'm very old comparative to you. And so I inside joke. Everybody inside joke. Just a few months back where I get a bunch of, like, things on my Facebook feed of, like, calisthenics. Oh, I, like, do this military workout and you'll look like this guy. And so I was like, you know what? Because I, I'm not good at going to the gym. So I'm like, I'm going to try this. And so I've been eating a little bit better. And I had been exercising well not well but but I've noticed a difference. Good. Yeah. So I think anymore it's the little adjustments that we're willing to make that we can actually stick with. You know, it's hard to like, take it on Jan one and be like, I'm going to do this and I'm going to be a powerhouse. And by the end you're like, what? I tried that once and did, like, the cleanse. Like the Lydia's like, no sugar, no caffeine, no alcohol. No, not that done that. And I almost got fired. Oh, I'm kidding, but I was. It does make you angry. It's not free at it. Yeah. No, I've. I've done that too. In fact, I hate full disclosure. I, I there's a parasite cleanse that I was planning on doing in January and my husband I were totally ready. We had all the stuff ready for it. And like the night before, I'm like, I'm not ready to do this. He's like, I'm not either. And so he didn't. So to be continued on that one. But what I was going to say is so my January thing is, this thing I do, I actually do it every January and it's through a company called Strata Easel. They're an easel company. So in order to like, you know, obviously if you are making art because you're looking at an object or looking at something in life, you want an easel, right? So the whole thing is you have to do art from life, and then you'll win an easel. You're, you know, if you make it to the end, you get your name in a drawing and it's like thousands of people. And then they, you know, you get to win it. So I still haven't won. It's been years, but I do it every year. And you have to make a piece of art. Like you have to be looking at the object or the thing or whatever, and then you paint it or you draw it or, you know, however your art medium is. But once every single day. Oh, wow. That's a lot. It is a lot. And I find that at the beginning I'm super inspired. And I've got all these things I'm going to paint by about the 15th. I'm like, I don't have anything to paint. My family is like, here's a candle, you know, paint this or whatever. Anyway, it gets kind of crazy, but I thought I would mention that because if you are ever on my Instagram page where I obviously do a lot of podcast information, I also have these random paintings that I make because you have to post them online in order for Strata Easel to acknowledge that you did it. Little accountability. Yes. So I have this weird, like I have all this podcast stuff and then all these pictures. And I thought if people weren't sure why I was doing that, that's why podcasts and painting that's with carries himself. Then I was feeling all proud of myself until you showed me your watercolor painting. And that's not fair. And then I'm like, Holy cow, you're a legit watercolor artist and I'm a hack. But that's not true. It's still fun. We need to work on your positive self-talk. I did sell a painting one time, so I feel like semi legit. Yeah, you're accomplished, but it haunts me because I think about that person looking closely and seeing the mistakes I made and being like, I want my money back. So if that person's listening, if you ever want to sell me back my painting, I would try to like buy it back too, because I it's yeah, it haunts me sometimes. But anyway. All right, well, let's, let's let's do a little Zamzow talk, shall we? We've got a tip of the week. So the tip of the week is actually that we're going to have an event coming up. It's a free kids event. It will be happening on February 7th. That's this Saturday, in case you're wondering, you'll you're if you bring a kid in, or a couple of kids or all your kids, they can come in, they get a free little pot and then a little plant, and they get to plant it. And in theory, that is them growing love. So it starts at 10 a.m.. It's at all stores, all 12 of our stores. So regardless of where you live, you can go to any one of our stores. And then during that while you're there, there is a one day sale on Everything houseplant related. So if you were like, hey, we want to get another houseplant or we want to do something else, you could do that. And there's actually 20% off of indoor pottery that day as well. So might might come join us. I don't know what the weather is going to be like. Could be just like perfect day to come on into Zamzows okay. Now totally shifting gears. I was preparing for our guest today and it was kind of a delightful, sort of memory lane about as a child, how important my bicycle was to me. It was my freedom. And, over Christmas break, my husband and I were talking about the how far we are allowed to go from our homes as kids, how far we could like our, you know, our parents be like, okay, not pass this street, not pass the street. We had a huge radius around our house where we could go because we could rider bikes if we were walking. There's no way we would have been willing to do it. But because we had our bicycles, we went all over the place and we used our bicycles for all sorts of things. Sometimes it was getting places, sometimes it was tearing up dirt lots and, you know, going up jumps, which I was not great at. I usually hurt myself. But anyway, I was just thinking about how important bicycles were for me growing up and continue to be my husband. I have bikes, my daughter, and we'll, you know, go on the greenbelt and we're not hardcore anymore. There was a period of time when I was. But anyway, I think that this conversation is going to be very fun because it is centered around bicycles and a whole bunch of other things. So I would like to welcome into this studio Gillian Horn. She is the development director of the Boise Bicycle Project. Thank you for being here. Thank you so much for having me. I'm really excited. Yeah, it's so great to have you. And I, yeah, you've you've covered you kind of witnessed the Yahoo ness that happens in the studio. So it's been great. We're glad to have you. We're glad to have you. Okay. So before we get going too far into this, I've got a whole list of questions for you. I'm wondering if you just will kind of tell us a little bit about you as a person. Sure. Yeah. Maybe I'll leave the bicycle talk for a little bit later, because, you'll what you'll find about me is that I, too. I'm not, like, the biggest bicycle fanatic, that was ever hired at BVP. I, I love bicycles, I ride like your average north End bike nut, but, I'm probably on the far end of the spectrum of our staff at VPI. I, I grew up in Missoula, Montana, and I think just outdoor experiences were very formative for me, very much a part of like my upbringing and still are kind of how I move through the world. And I was really, really fortunate to attend Boise State University. That's kind of what brought me here to Boise. I was laughing as I was thinking about what did bring me to Boise, and I had one of my very best friends growing up. If you're a Boise State football fan, this might be fun for you to hear. I was best friends with a girl named Taylor Allen, author growing up, and, her dad, Pokey Allen. Oh, yes. Of course. Yeah, he, he led Boise State to their first national championship. So we would come down for, you know, Boise State football games and we'd have sideline passes, I think, like our college tour was like the athletic director at the time. You know, I was like, wow, this is amazing. When I come to voice credibly. Cool. Yeah. Needless to say, I, you know, no one rolled out the red carpet when I came to Boise State. So my experience was, maybe a little lacking in what I was expecting when I, you know, moved down here. And, you know, I did have a wonderful experience. I had a great group of friends, but didn't feel like particularly connected to Boise as a city. I think I was just very much focused on campus life and on my college experience. And I was, you know, not really ever planning to stay here. Like, it still is sort of amazing to me that I'm here 13 years, 14 years later. So amazing how time goes, right? Yeah. It is. But my my senior year, I was pursuing a nonprofit management minor, which I'm not even sure if they still offer that as a undergrad program. I'm part of the program. We had to do a service learning project with a nonprofit organization, had to volunteer ten hours of our time, and then they had a kind of a job fair where we would, you know, meet other nonprofit organizations. They ended up meeting these two women that, ran this horror film festival. What? Which is very random. I don't even know that existed. I, I always laugh because I, like, don't even like horror, but I was just so drawn to these women, and that's where I decided to spend my time. Apparently, they liked me to, Molly Rowan Decker, Susan Becker they are still two of my closest friends to this day and, you know, volunteered my time those first ten hours and then some. And then I was just really, like, sort of embraced into their families. And I think that was maybe the piece that I was missing, when I was here feeling like that family connection. And through that was a three day festival. So we had a bar crawl in downtown Boise. We showed, like over 100 was an international film festival, 100 films at, the Egyptian downtown. And, just did all these cool things, education programing with Boise State University. And I think through meeting all of those business leaders and really getting connected to like that just true downtown footprint, I like fell in love. It just totally opened my eyes to like how amazing Boise is. And I went on to do five more years volunteering with the festival, and it, is still some of my fondest memories. But after I graduated, you know, I did my time abroad. I do, you know what? And traveled and did all those things and came back and, and through Molly and Susan, I also met one of my, you know, also really good friends, Erin Anderson, who's been on your podcast. She's the executive director at the Botanical Garden. And, I said to her, I said, I'm like, so broke. I spent every dime in my bank account to I was in Central and South America. I was like, are there any jobs at the garden? Like, are you hiring anyone that can help with events or anything like that? And she said, well, we have like a part time event coordinator position. You can submit your resume, you've got some good experience and we'll see where it takes you. And I was there for years and, I worked my way up and, you know, that job really opened. Like, I really credit, like, Molly and Susan in that first experience with the horror film festival for, like, the life that I have now in Boise. And then that first job, like, opened so many doors, helped me build such a skill set that I still, you know, use today in my role at the Boise Basic Project and other roles that I've had. So that's kind of how I got here and, and why I'm here and I guess a little bit about who I am. Yeah. I am amazed at because you think about the trajectory of our lives and like how one thing leads to another. It's really interesting how how important and pivotal it was for you, because now you're in you are a nonprofit person. So that's like you, you've worked in several areas of nonprofit. So what a what an amazing just turn of events that you had. Okay, I have to do these ten hours and but yeah, it's led you to where you are now, which is pretty cool. Yeah. Kevin Bailey, he's, with the Idaho nonprofit center now. It's part of the Idaho Community Foundation. He he gives this great example about how Idaho runs on nonprofits and how, you know, if we think about our experience growing up for people that are from Idaho, specifically, you're born in a hospital that's, you know, a nonprofit hospital. You probably attend. You know, you tend to draft, laugh as a, you know, preschooler, and then you go on to have all these experience that are really centered on nonprofits. And I feel like that when I think of my childhood in Missoula, it's a very similar type of community where it's very much supported by nonprofits, and the nonprofits are what make the community so amazing to live in. I don't know that I ever really stood a chance to, like, pursue a corporate job. I sometimes joke like, when I'm really burnt out, I'm going to go corporate. But yeah, I think that nonprofit work has always been where I've been drawn. So do you feel like like, was there a moment like, do you do you remember like a specific moment where you kind of realized, I mean, obviously your lead in moment was one, but but as you were doing it was, was there a point where you were like, okay, yeah, this is where I'm supposed to be? I think it comes in waves for me. I think we probably all experience that where you're like this is amazing. And then you sort of maybe reach as much as you can grow in a certain role. I think the horror film festival was so special, not because I, I do not like horror films. Like that's kind of the the joke between our group is that very few of us were like, really? That into horror films? I think we saw or we understood the value that that genre of filmmaking had for emerging filmmakers. And so I came to that work from that place of like, this is a tool to help empower people with a skill set, to help them go on and to pursue creative endeavors. You know, I worked at the garden for four years. I can't keep a plant alive. I'm sorry to say that to colleagues here. I'm so, I can help you with that. But I, you know, I understood the importance of that space as, like, a cultural arts community gathering space. And I think even for my work at the Boise Bicycle Project, I love to ride my bike. I, I, I love to go on the greenbelt. I live in the foothills. But I understand that the bike is just the tool that we're using to do this bigger, greater work in our community. Yeah. All right. Well, let's talk about the Boise Bicycle Project. Do you want to talk to give a high level for anybody who has not heard of Boise Bicycle Project? Although I'd be very surprised if they hadn't. I mean, it's the organization's done an amazing job, I think, of getting the word out, which is lovely. But just in case somebody has not heard. Yeah, we're so, so fortunate. We just have a tremendous amount of community support. We are a nonprofit bike cooperative. And what that means is that we are at the basic level where brick and mortar bike shop. So we have bikes for sale, parts for sale. We have a DIY shop space. You know, our mission is to promote the social, environmental and personal benefits of bicycling. But I would really explain that by saying that we want to empower folks in our community with access to opportunities and with a skill set, and the bike is just the tool that we're using to do that. We what you're probably familiar with, if you are familiar with the Boise Bicycle Project, is our youth program. So we give away about 1600 bikes a year. About 1200 of those go to kids, and 600 of them go out, you know, just a few weeks or a couple months ago in, during our holiday kids bike giveaway. We want to make sure every kid has access to a bicycle that they have access to, free repair services. And not only that, but that they're gaining a skill set so that they can keep those bikes rolling on their own. We have apprenticeship programs, for teens and women who are incarcerated. And then sort of the third part of what we do is that we feel it's important that not only do kids or everyone in our community have access to a bicycle, but they have access to safe streets to ride on. So we have some focus in from an advocacy lens of making sure that our city is prioritizing our most vulnerable road users, which includes cyclists. But it's kids. It's people using wheelchairs. It's, anyone essentially not in a car. Okay. If you know a particular area that's dangerous or that gets fraught, are you part of the raising of that awareness so that something is done about it? I think our role in that conversation changes as just that overall conversation changes, and we try to fit into it in a way that is helpful and additive. It's probably looks like, for the most part, us organizing, you know, we are very well known. We have sort of this like audience that we can bring with us. And so when there's a project that we think we should get behind, we're able to sort of organize voices to maybe show up and testify in support or against, certain bills that are presented in front of the legislature. That's part of what we do. Well, so just promoting the idea of cycling as a good thing for our community. And so we're hosting events like Open Streets Boise, which are promoting alternative modes of transportation and that are a little bit disruptive in the sense that we're shutting down, you know, a roadway. And we're asking people to imagine what it would feel like to move through our communities and through some of these major arterials if you felt safe to walk and bike and rollerblade, and weren't worried about car traffic and things like that. We do a lot of safety programing. So I think the most proactive thing that we, we do, that's not in response to things happening at a, at a local or state level, is, is, in August, we installed Boise's first permanent traffic garden and, and Morrison Park, and we did that in partnership with the city of Boise Parks and Rec, and with the Idaho Transportation Department. And essentially what that is, is it's like a mini streetscape. So it's got a roundabout. It's got, you know, a pedestrian crossing and stop signs yield signs. And we run our bicycle and safety, our programing out there teaching kids how to navigate, railroad system safely so that when they do go to bike to school or, even for adults as well, they have had some experience and sort of have a skill set that I, I would have appreciated that. I think as a kid, Boise was a little littler than easy for me to say. And, and things were a little different obviously. But, I didn't follow any rules. I'm thinking about, like, our posse that would we do, you know, it would be the gang. And it was all boys. It was all boys. And then me and I was also the youngest, so I was I was, like, trailing behind the way for me. But, Yeah, that was I mean, I'm sure we were doing all sorts of things that cars were like, you kids, you know, you can't do that. And we had no idea. So I think that's really important to know the rules of the road and understand that I now that I do understand it, it drives me nuts when I see a bicyclist that is on the wrong side of the road that's, you know, whatever. And I'm like, it's because it's dangerous. And I think you're putting your life in danger. All these cars going by and you yourself hurt. And so. Yeah, yeah, I mean, we all have a responsibility to be a good steward of our, our roads and how we move to our cities. And if you think about it, like most of us do, move on to drive cars and things like that. But like for most of us, our first experience with mobility is that first bicycle that we get that opens up our world, allows us to be free and have some autonomy to like bike to school or bike to a friend's house. And if you can instill those values early on and that like awareness of others on the road and of of your role as a road user, that's only going to go to serve us all later on as we get into cars and and and that's true. That is true. Understood. You know, understanding the first set will make you a better driver, will make you. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. That's very good. So there's a lot I didn't realize there were so many pieces to Boise Bicycle Project. I kind of just. I knew the one like you mentioned because I've donated. Bicycles and especially when my daughter was growing out of hers, every time she. Out of one or bike. All right, we got to donate this one. Which, by the way, is a super easy process. I mean, it was really easy to donate, and, it was fantastic. And so we we did it every time that she'd, she'd change into a different bike. But I'm, I'm, Thank you. I'm, I'm curious about how you think. How do you juggle at all all the things that you're doing under this one umbrella? I think for the most part, we really think of all of our programs as, like, feeding each other. We have sort of the spectrum of programing. You know, in theory, a kid maybe is coming to us because they've been referred to us through like a nonprofit partner, and they need a bike. So that's sort of our first step is we're getting them onto a bike. Then maybe we're meeting them again when we ride out in our mobile fixit cart to their school in the summer as part of our outreach programing to, to, repair bikes and to teach them how to, you know, repair their tires or something like that. Then maybe we're inviting them to be part of our teen afterschool program. And so they're doing our teen Earn a bike program, and then, they're coming into our shop to volunteer, and then maybe they're getting, you know, passionate about bicycle advocacy. And so they're joining our advocacy committee. Like, I think all of these things play really nicely together, and they all work in support of each other. So I don't really view it as it is a lot. And I think sometimes that is what people are surprised about is just like the breadth of the things that we do, but they all play really nicely together. Do you think about thinking about how you got involved with nonprofit, and that the ten hours that you had to do, do you ever think about that with each one of these young people that are being brought into the loop and the exposure they're getting and, and how it might be changing the course of their lives. Yeah. I mean, I think my role I have less touch on the kids and families that we're serving, which, you know, is, is is neither here nor there. But, I do think about that a lot. I think all of our team takes it very seriously. The work that we do, we do it. I think if you're familiar with us, you know that our our vibe is very much joyful and silly and fun and quirky. We're weirdos who like to ride bikes. But we know that what we do is important, and and we take that part of it very seriously. You know, this year, I later, you know, this month, I'm going to the onboarding my first intern that's a Boise State student. And that to me feels really like a, you know, full circle kind of moment that that really did start sort of the trajectory of my career, that that early experience when I was at Boise State University. And, I'm excited to to get to, you know, maybe play a small role in somebody else's career development. Yeah. Because you kind of talked a little bit about the fact that you, like, I was just kind of asking about the nitty gritty part of it, but that your role is a little bit different, that can you talk to us about like, what is your day to day look like? It looks different every day. Amen. Sister. If somebody ask me that question, I was like, I don't even know what to say. My role as a development director is to really, I mean, at a baseline, it's to fundraise for the organization. And so I'm, you know, I'm in charge of sort of our contributions and our granting and event revenue and sponsorship. We have a really interesting model. We have like, like about 40%, 45% of our our revenue comes through earned income in our shop. And then the rest is, is fundraised. And that doesn't actually account for folks like you that are donating bikes. And that's that's like a huge, huge part of our model that we we can't function if we're not receiving bike donations. Those are the bikes that are, you know, being sold in our shop as earned revenue, but they're also the bikes that are going back out into the community. I really look at my role like development I think is is often seen as very transactional. You're you're raising money and then that money is funding programs. But I, I think I'm developing relationships and I'm helping to share what we do and our impact. I joke that I have like the easiest, funnest job at BP because I just get to talk all day long about how awesome BP is and how great our staff is, and the great impact that we we make in our community. So it's really not a hard pitch for people when I start talking about, what we do and why our work is important, I am often met with stories similar to one that you opened with about their first experience riding a bike, or what a bike means to them. I think our mission is pretty tangible for folks, and almost everyone can like, sort of personally connect at like a surface level of what we do. We make sure every kid has a bike that needs one. And I think everyone generally agrees. Not generally, everyone agrees that's a good thing. And every kid should have a bike. Yeah. So it's not a hard, a hard sell. You know, I'm writing a lot of. Thank you cards. I'm writing a lot of grants. I'm doing just a lot of writing in general, to share. You know, what? We what we do, but we sort of have some for, I guess I would say, emphasizes every year from a fundraising perspective that I, I'm kind of overseen, we do a bike program fundraiser the first quarter of the year. It's our first one was a couple years ago, but really last year was like the first. True. I can't even call it a gala because we're not a gala organization. Like, it just does not match our vibe. But it was, you know, a ticketed kind of dinner auction event. So that'll be March 12th this year at different music hall. Awesome. If somebody wants to get tickets to that, what tickets are on sale on our website? Oh very good. Yeah. What's your website Boise Bicycle project.org. All right. Well, plug. Gotta get in there. Gotta get the plug in there. And in the spring we do our Idaho Gives fundraiser, which is actually a statewide fundraising initiative that the Idaho nonprofit center. I keep saying that, but they're now the Idaho Community Foundation. They've merged. They they sort of oversee this large fundraising, day or it's a week of fundraising. And that's a huge push for us in the summer, we're preparing for our Open Streets event, which is our largest community event, which, sort of evolved from Boise go ahead Fest, if you're familiar with that. I am, yeah, I am, which is one of the quirky things that you guys do want to talk about that. Yeah, I'd love to. You're still doing it right? So no. So Boise go ahead. Fest has has evolved. Okay. And it is now open streets Boise. Go ahead Fest was yeah this like silly and of year celebration if you know what goat heads are if you live here I'm sure you do have a bicycle. You know what goat heads are. They are this, like noxious weed that drop these little nuts that are really sharp and pointy and hard like they're. Yeah, yeah. And if you bike over them, they pop your bike tires, you know, they get stuck in pets. Paws are really a nuisance. And so our, our co-founder and former executive director, Jimi, that silly, quirky, creative side is fully Jimi. And so that event actually evolved from tour to fat, and it became Boise Go Head Fest, where it was sort of a challenge citywide to pull as many goat heads as we could, like thousands and thousands of pounds. We've worked with the Boise Parks and Rec department and, then at the end of the summer, we just had this, like, very silly festival with music and beer from Lost Grove. And we did a bike parade downtown. That event has has evolved. It's now Open streets, Boise, which is still fun and silly and quirky in its own way, but it's, just a little bit of a different model. We moving from neighborhood to neighborhoods. It's not downtown Boise anymore. We're still picking goat heads. That's still very much, you know, a focus. We want to eradicate goat heads that has that desire has not gone away. The experience behind the event is a little more broad and a little more transportation focused now. Okay. This is not a pre-written, question for you. So. So feel free to not answer it. But, can we talk about Jimmy Grace? I'd love to. I, I was going to ask you this anyway, because I know that he. Because he's the founder. Right? This was his brainchild, Boise Bicycle Project. Okay. And and he just seems like a, first of all, that he has endless energy. Is that true? Like, I don't know him personally, so I but he seems like he just has endless energy. I think so, and and yes, really hyper creative. Interesting fellow. Okay. Just what just happened for those that didn't get to see that, Carrigan tried to exit the room gracefully and ran into the almost open door. I think potentially with her head, it might have been a knee. I hope she's okay. I hope I just hope that that sound effect came through. Back to Jimmy. Back to Jimmy? Yes. He's totally. He's just he's creative. Like, I'm fortunate he and Erin, who I mentioned earlier, they have been dating for, I don't know, five years or something like that. And so I've gotten to know Jimmy really well, he was stepping away from his role when I got hired on to the Boise Bicycle Project, so I didn't get a chance to work with him very long in a professional capacity. But even in his personal life, he's just like. Like, we went over for Halloween a few years ago, and he had built this, like, slide for candy to come down. So every kid that came had this, you know, this. And he's building it all from just kind of he's very also creative with like the. So it's all like recycled bike parts and like wood and stuff. He's just he is really a creative person and he does have like just a ton of energy. And he is just a person that like, really deeply cares. I think that that came through at the Boise Bicycle Project and the way that he approached the work and like everything that I'm doing now is, is just a continuation of, like all of the work that Jimmy and the investment that he made into the community. But it's it shows in his, in his work on the city council. Like, he just really does deeply, deeply care. Yeah, it seems to be a visionary. And people who can have an idea and a thought process about bicycles, for instance. And hey, I have this vision of and I don't know exactly what his vision was, but perhaps it's I want every kid in Boise to have a bicycle and I want, you know, and to then turn that into something. It's one thing to be like, that sounds great. It's another thing to say, I'm going to do this. And I think that that's something he does very well. I do not want to get political, by the way. So please don't send me any messages of health, politics or anything. I'm just talking about Jimmy as a human being. He just he's very intriguing. Yeah, I just I find his his, and unique. He's very unique. So anyway, I think he's a gift to the community, so I agree. Let's see. Let's keep talking about Boise Bicycle Project here on the website, it says that, you believe that Boise has the potential to be the bicycling capital of America. Can you explain that? And and why do you think that that's true? Why do you think that that I guess your organization thinks that's true? I think you just mentioned, like, I don't know what Jimi's vision was. I think that is I that's that is Jimmy's vision. I think he it's aspirational obviously on the website, I think I don't know that will ever truly achieve that. I don't know that we would ever actually be able to know that we are the bicycle capital of America. Like, I don't know what metrics we would use to measure that against other cities. And and I think that's kind of the point. It's that we're going to continue to work towards that goal. In a like a very practical sense, I think what that means is that Boise's built environment is supportive of bicycles and not just bicycles. I think bicycles I mentioned like our vulnerable road users, it's just making sure that our built environment is prioritizing those types of road users. And that we have a really healthy multimodal system that there's plenty of bike parking. You know, maybe if we're really dreaming big, which I think this that vision is dreaming big. We are like Amsterdam. We have, you know, a a a bike parking garage in downtown Boise because so many people are riding their bikes because it's easy to it's safe to their their businesses are bike friendly. So they've got showers and lockers and, and are offering, you know, commuter incentives, things like that. Yeah I, I that's I guess in a practical sense what it looks like. I think it means that everyone has a bike, has access to a bike. That streets are safe to ride on, that we're able to connect as a community and share our love for bicycling. We're a thought leader, maybe in terms of, like, what bicycle advocacy looks like. Yeah, I like that. I like that. I, I do think Boise, it is evolving and there always are, you know, now sometimes there's griping us when you're behind, when you're behind the wheel of a car and you're like, what the why did we need that there or whatever? And but I think that's the balance of all these things. Right. We say, okay, well, I'm willing as a car driver to have a little bit less room because now there's room for a bicyclist to be able to ride. And, so maybe there's one less car in the road because now people find it easier to choose to take a bicycle rather than a car. So it's starting to eliminate some of that road congestion. I mean, all I'm saying is it doesn't happen overnight. You just have to kind of keep pushing levers. It's it's above my pay grade. I'm, you know, we'll get that. I always find it interesting when we. There are things like this. We have this grand vision of things. And then as we begin to kind of, actually execute the turns and, and, you know, how it, how things, looks now we're going this direction because we thought it was this, but it's actually this and the malleability of all of that. You know, I, I, I think that's where sometimes we get we go awry as a community when we go tete a tete about things and we get super upset about certain things as well, like we're dealing with real life here and so and life ebbs and flows and weaves and bobs and and. Yeah, I don't know what my point was. That's that's the thought with you. All right. So as the Treasure Valley grows, what do you feel is the most important thing to protect or strengthen when it comes to access and connection? I'll stay on the line of, just like our built environment. I think as our city grows, we're making investments into our community from like a infrastructure perspective. And I think it's so important that we continue to prioritize. I'm going to keep saying it, our most vulnerable road users, ensuring that, like our neighborhoods are safe for the people that live there. And that as we're making these investments and accommodating that growth, that we are also, ensuring that people can move through our communities safely, they can connect and access opportunities, in whatever mode of transportation that they are choosing to take. Because I think a lot of us forget that not everyone can afford a car, a car. It's a privilege to drive a car and that's not the reality for every person that lives in our community. And so we have to have a community that accommodates every type of person that lives here. Yeah. So as you look ahead, what excites you most about what's coming up with the Boise Bicycle Project? We're 18 years old. We're going to be 19 years old this fall. Just crazy. How did that happen? Yeah, this December will be our 20th holiday kids by giveaway. Wow. We gave away our 15,000th bike last year. So it's I mean, I think it's so exciting to think of where we've come and all of the things that we've been able to do with, like really a small staff. I think on the one hand, people are often surprised to learn that, like we have a staff of more than Jimmy, basically. But, but we also have a pretty small staff in terms of like the impact that we have. I think a lot of nonprofits would tell you, like, our goal is to work ourselves out of a job. And if you work in something like food insecurity or something like that, that's obviously a really admirable, admirable goal. We, we, we would like to all live in a world in a community where no one is experiencing food insecurity. I don't think we'll ever. And I hope we never live in a world where we don't need bicycles. And so we will continue to make sure every person has access to a bicycle in our community, our shop is is not only just a bike shop, we're really a community space where people can come in and feel welcome and feel included and and part of something bigger than themselves, and they can kind of come as they are and bring their whole self, their people have access to affordable parts, and all of those repair services and bikes are such an important tool. Just to get people moving from point A to point B, and they're important for our mental health, for physical health. Like there's so many amazing benefits to bicycling. You know, our need continues to grow as our city grows. Like you mentioned, we had more applications than we ever have for bikes during this last holiday. Kids bike giveaway. We have a waitlist, you know, a hundred bikes long of people waiting for bikes still. And so I think we're mindful of like that need continues to grow and we have to figure out a way to accommodate that. But even like this last holiday kids bike giveaway, this is a great example. We felt like there's no way we're going to be able to serve all these kids. Like this is more applications that we've ever had. We had this hard deadline. We were like, we're going to cut it off on this date. And then of course, more applications come in and you can't say no. And somehow we just are able to accommodate it. Like we people show up with bikes when we say, hey, we don't have we literally don't have enough bikes to serve every dream bike drawing that has been submitted to us. And then people like you drive down with a trailer full of bikes. People show up to volunteer. Like, I do think we have this super power and that our impact will expand as the community demands it, and people, I think when they come to work with us, they come to volunteer with us. It's so easy to feel like that really tangible impact. Get to put a kid on a bike. You get to fix a bike with your hands, like there's few opportunities where you really get to feel like what I did today really made a difference for somebody. And so I'm hopeful that, like, we'll continue to have a community that shows up to help us meet that need. It's Boise. You will have no doubt. I'm going to take a quick break. A little mini, break here to thank our sponsor, Zamzows. this episode of Nobody Knowz is brought to you by Zamzows , your local source for garden, pet and planet friendly products. At Zamzows. We believe strong communities grow when we take care of our people, our places, and the ways we move through them. Visit Zamzows.com or stop by one of 12 Treasure Valley locations nobody knows like ten toes. Okay, we're shifting gears. Okay. This is the segment we call sharing is caring. I call it rapid fire. It never ends up being rapid fire. So these are just another set of separate questions. I'm very long winded so I'll try to be brief. All right. First question a local organization or a cause that you admire right now? I have to say Wild Hearts Idaho. I just joined their board this fall. They empower girls and young girls with outdoor experiences. So they're all free experiences in the outdoors, to help build leadership skills and just give young girls the opportunity to actually, like, go rafting, mountain biking, rock climbing, outdoor industry is very male dominated. And, so it's just such a cool, cool thing that they're doing. Yeah, that's very cool. Great answer. All right. How about a favorite Boise ride trail or outdoor reset spot? I am very fortunate to live kind of at the base of the foothills. So there there's a little loop by my house that I would say is probably my favorite. I've done it like hundreds of times, and we lost our two older dogs this spring. So I didn't do it for a while. But we got a puppy this fall, so I've been kind of every explore in that little loop, and it's been bittersweet, but it's it's such a great spot. I could go down that rabbit hole about dogs dying. I also lost a dog last year, and, it's still. Yeah, we've we've not brought ourselves to even think about another dog. We're just so destroyed by it. Like I just cannot. It's amazing how these pets completely I. Yeah, they were two months to the day, Sadie, my pitbull, and then Cinnabar lab. It was so rough. Like, still, like the grief sits with me. I convinced my husband that we were going to foster a dog because we also have a toddler. So I was like, we don't need a puppy, right now. We don't need a dog. We'll just foster. And that obviously didn't come. They convert pretty quick into I can't give this thing away. It's just it's too important. Well, I'm glad. I'm glad to hear that you have a puppy in your life, and. Yeah, he's pretty cute. There's nothing like puppies. Okay. How about a book, an idea or a quote that shapes how you think about community or generosity? The first thing that comes to mind is just like the idea of the word philanthropy. I worked at this, in between the garden, and I worked at this kind of tech startup. We were building an app for giving, and we talked a lot about philanthropy, what it means to be a philanthropist, and it means love of humanity. But that word is, like, so big and bold and like, you have to be have $1 million and have your name on a building to be considered a philanthropist. And so I think learning the actual definition of it kind of redefined it for me. And we can all be a philanthropist. We just have to show up in a way that's meaningful to us and for our community. So I'm like taking that that word back. I love to be for Winterfest. I want that in my obituary, too, that I was a philanthropist, and my name will never go on any buildings, but, I to think I'm going to do good things for our community. So you already are on that word. Love that. Love that answer. Okay, last one, something outside of work that brings you joy or keeps you grounded. I have to say, my family, of course, I have the coolest two year old named Avery. She's just, like, the best. And I have a really amazing husband. Maybe I'll say more specifically, you know, we'd love to see my husband and I, and we're teaching Avery to ski. She went up the chairlift for the first time last week, and I don't know if I should say that. I don't know if they're allowed under two. I got two. We just kind of brought her. I don't think nobody questioned us. I think we did with our kids. So if it's bad, I'm in there with you. Yeah. I'm like, I'm sure there's an age limit, but we did it. But yeah, she's like, legitimately skiing. I mean, we're still holding her, but it's so cool to, like, see her master skill and then be able to do something with us that we love so much. Yeah. So that's just, like, bringing me the most joy ever. I love that. I'm at the. I'm at the south end of the experience that you're on in that my daughter's a first year in college. But I'm telling you, it felt like. It feels like yesterday that she was, too. And on her skis and and having to take her to the bathroom and unzip all of the clothing so that she could go to the doctor for this, is there for all the way back up again to go back. My gosh, it's such a shuffle of just like layers and gear. I hear that so often and I know it's true. I, I'm really fortunate. I have friends, you know, like that. Our kids are leaving to go to college, so they're kind of on that tail end of like that, the most intense part of the parenting journey. And so I think that's helpful for me because it allows me that reminders like, I got to stay really present because I know that this goes so fast. Does I hear it all the time? Yes. Just you just hear it from old people. But it's. But it's true. Dang it. Okay, now we're to the point of the show where we ask the same question that we ask all of our guests, okay, there are no rules. You can answer it however you like. It can be about you. It can be about anything else. Here it is. What is? Something that nobody knows? Okay, well, I'll share. Just like a fun, silly one. I always use this if you play that game. Two truths and a lie. I love to use this little fact about me. I am a internationally touring violinist. What? When I was eight, I was part of this group called Missoula Strings on Tour, and we actually made a CD. Wow. And it was to, like, help pay for our trip. We went to Ireland. I don't know that anyone, like, invited us. I'm not sure why we were there, but like, we were just playing our violins on street corners in Ireland and, Yeah, that's that's my little fact. I love facts like that. Yeah, it does, because hear we had this whole conversation and then all of a sudden randomly. This is fantastic. So random. I mean, I don't I wish I like still played the violin or did anything with that, but I do I have that claim to fame. Yeah. Do you ever do you ever pick up a violin and just try to. No. I wish like no I don't I at some point maybe that's like something, you know when, when Avery's like out of high school. Yeah. Like you're painting. I can, like, start to do a January. There you go. Musical. There you go. I could do that. Yeah, I a couple of years ago, for my birthday, randomly asked my parents for a flute because I played flute as a kid, and I thought that I was gonna be able to just pick it. Right? Because it's not. Not like riding a bike. It's not like riding a bike. As it turns out. That's so apropos. Yeah, I yeah, anyway, I, I do still have it. Maybe, maybe that's the next resolution of this year. I'll take that on. We'll see. Do we do continued. This has been a wonderful conversation. Thank you for being here. Thank you for sharing about the Boise Bicycle Project and just telling us about you. You're a very interesting person and you're doing wonderful things for this community. So thank you. Thank you. I'm I'm just so thrilled to be invited. I appreciate your time. Absolutely. Oh, gosh. These guests that we have are there. In case our listeners are wondering, they're changing my life. Every single one of them does. And this has been such a gift for me personally to be able to be the host of the show just because of meeting people like you. So, just feeling very grateful. Just grateful right now. So if you enjoyed today's episode, follow the podcast. And please, please, please leave a review. And if you want to support the work of the Boise Bicycle Project, you can visit Boise Bicycle Project.org. Next week we'll hear from another incredible voice shaping the Treasure Valley. And until then, thank you for listening.