PORTLAND: Ole Kassow knows how to help the elderly feel a little less lonely: He gives them a ride in his rickshaw.
Two-and-a-half years ago, Kassow noticed a friendly-looking gentleman sitting on a bench near his home in Copenhagen. The two started greeting each other regularly, and it dawned on Kassow that the man might like a ride on his bike. After all, everyone in Copenhagen rides bikes; in fact, older people used to ride bikes even more than they do now.
Kassow visited the skilled nursing home where the man, named Thorkild, lives and asked him out. The man, who is in his nineties, said yes and they started rambling all over the city, taking in the places Thorkild liked to visit in his younger days.
Then, not long after, the skilled nursing home got in touch to say other residents also wanted to be taken in the two-seat passenger bike.
Now, Kassow runs a burgeoning network of rickshaw “pilots” in 25 cities.
Kassow is now on Indiegogo raising money for new bikes, training and outreach, so he can spread the idea to new places. People as far afield as Australia, New Zealand, the U.S., Singapore, Chile, and Argentina have said they want to set up their own chapters.