In October, more than 60 international attendees of the Leadership Council of SPE took part in a Bike-A-Thon™ workshop that produced eight bicycles for local children. The event took place on the evening of the first day of the fall meeting of SPE’s Leadership Council in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. It was sponsored by the SPE Foundation and organized by Magnovo Training Group, a provider of team-building events for charities. The YMCA assisted in distributing the bicycles to children.

“The Bike-A-Thon served as an evening of team-building for our Leadership Council, and enabled us to make a contribution to the Pittsburgh community,” says Dick Cameron, SPE’s 2015-2016 president. “Having lived in Pittsburgh for almost 50 years, I was gratified that we could benefit our community YMCA, whose programs and camps I have personally supported. It was a great evening for all of us.”

The SPE Foundation provides funding in support of plastics education. Each year it offers scholarships to many students, provides grants to schools and other institutions, and sponsors programs for grade and high school students such as the traveling PlastiVan™ and Hands on Plastics™ kits.

“The Foundation is very important in SPE’s strategy to attract young people to the plastics industry,” says SPE managing director Russell Broome. “The Foundation’s PlastiVan helps to educate our future workforce as early as possible, helping students learn about different careers in the plastics industry.

“The scholarships students receive from the Foundation allow the students to get the education they need to choose this career path,” Broome adds. “I am very excited to watch the improvements and growth of the Foundation over this last year.”

More information about the SPE Foundation is available at www.4spe.org/foundation.