Pioneering Parents: Shana Buterbaugh, Cranksgiving
Shana Buterbaugh is a spokeswoman against hunger—with an emphasis on “spokes.”
An avid cyclist, the Little Rock mom uses her pastime to benefit others, often in tandem with organizations fighting hunger.
Buterbaugh, an imaging specialist for the law firm Friday Eldredge & Clark, started the spectacle called Cranksgiving in Little Rock. Every year on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, urban cyclists collect food for charity in what Buterbaugh describes as a “scavenger hunt/food drive on two wheels.”
“We believe that through our many events and partnerships with local food banks, we can promote an active, socially and environmentally conscious community committed to a healthier life and finding solutions for those affected by hunger in Arkansas,” Buterbaugh says, reflecting the Cranksgiving creed.
And while that sounds quite formal, Cranksgiving is all about fun. “It started out re-enacting a day in the life of a bike messenger,” Buterbaugh says. Participants ride to stores where they buy foodstuffs for donation, but they also pedal around collecting scavenger items.
The first Arkansas Cranksgiving, in 2014, collected close to 300 pounds of food for the Arkansas Rice Depot. Last summer, Buterbaugh’s Cranksgiving crew joined with the local bike shop Spokes and THV Channel 11 to gather 1,500 items for the Arkansas Foodbank cereal drive. She also helped to bring in 900 pounds of food for The Van, ex-Marine Aaron Reddin’s unconventional charity helping the homeless.
In many of these efforts, Buterbaugh’s 10-year-old daughter, Kiera, has been along for the ride. “Sometimes it’s been kicking and screaming,” Buterbaugh says with a grin. “I’ve always biked, and it’s a good way to show Kiera, who is only with me part-time, that one person can make a difference volunteering in the community.”
Mother and daughter have volunteered at Wampoo Roadeo, an annual fundraising ride for the Marilyn Fulper Memorial Fund. Proceeds support bicycle education and advocacy, and provide free helmets for hundreds of children receiving bikes from Recycle Bikes for Kids. “If I don’t show Kiera how to do these things, and others don’t show their kids, a whole generation probably won’t be doing them,” Buterbaugh says. “Sometimes it can be the simplest of things that people need. A wave from a stranger—or food.”
“Years ago I helped Arkansas Foodbank in a program called Harvesters,” she says, describing how food insecurity came to be one of her passions. “It was there that I found out one in four kids in Arkansas won’t have a breakfast during the summer months, and one in seven Arkansans struggles to get enough to eat.”
This June, the cereal drive will be back on, and afterward Kiera may not get what she wants for breakfast. “Last summer Kiera asked one morning, can we have cereal?” Buterbaugh recalls. “I said, ‘your mama gave it all away.’”
To learn more about Little Rock Cranksgiving, visit Facebook.com/LittleRockCranksgiving.