Dear Fellow VVCC members,

In case you don’t know me let me introduce myself. My name is Heather Parris. I’ve lived in Cottonwood since 2007 and have been a member of the VVCC since 2007/8 and served on the board as secretary for 4 years.

I started Chain Reaction in January of 2017. My endeavors began after a question was asked of me - “could the homeless use bikes?”. I thought that if a homeless person had a bike to get to a job interview and then to a job, what a huge difference it would make in their life. After putting several posts on Facebook asking for unwanted bicycles and rounding up a few generous volunteers to repair the bikes I made my first donation to Angie Lozano of Angie’s House. Chain Reaction was born.

For the past going on 2 years, I’ve had the privilege of donating bicycles to those without any transportation in the Verde Valley and beyond through Chain Reaction. I’ve been working with Catholic Charities providing bicycles to our area homeless vets. We’ve donated bicycles to Angies’s House in Cottonwood, as well as the Sedona Area Homeless Alliance. We’ve provided bicycles to women in need through the Verde Valley Sanctuary. All together Chain Reaction has donated nearly 100 bikes to those in Northern AZ with no means of transportation.

The VVCC has been an incredible help! Shout out to Kevin Adams for his help in obtaining Chain Reaction's 501c3 as well as helping Chain Reaction become an AZ Qualifying Charitable Organization for tax credit purposes. Rick Leever has also been a tremendous help with providing monies through the VVCC to help pay for the repairs to the bikes Chain Reaction receives. Another wonderful angel of the VVCC has donated over $200.00 of his own money to help as well. Chain Reaction couldn’t do it without this help. Many friends and family have given to Chain Reaction even though many of them don’t even live in AZ. I am thanked continuously for the work that Chain Reaction is doing.

I’m reaching out at this time because I need your help. I work full-time to pay bills and overtime to run Self Propelled Tours and Chain Reaction so my time to seek out sponsors, grants and donations is very limited (it turns out I am NOT Superwoman!) Chain Reaction needs your financial assistance as I feel Chain Reaction is slipping from my grasp. I cannot afford to continue to dip into household monies to support Chain Reaction.

I’m asking today for you to search your heart and your pockets to generously give to Chain Reaction at this time to ensure that it is able to continue to help our area friends and neighbors who need transportation. I have placed donation boxes at Verde Valley Bicycle Company and Absolute Bikes. You can donate through our website, www.chainreactionaz.org, or Chain Reaction's Facebook page. You can also mail a check to Chain Reaction at 1639 S. Broken Rock Dr., Cottonwood, AZ 86326. 

All donations made prior to April 15th can be applied for tax credit on your 2018 AZ State Tax Return. Chain Reaction's QCO Code is 21024.  

If you have a bicycle to donate please call me at 928-274-3109.

Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart! Chain Reaction is changing lives and you can help!

Heather Parris

Executive Director/Founder of Chain Reaction

heather@chainreactionaz.org