ONE, an advocacy organization with more than 44,000 members in Washington dedicated to poverty-reduction in Africa, joins the Alleycat Acres, an urban farming collective with three locations in Seattle, for the Streets & Beets Bike Ride on Saturday.

The ride is part of ONE’s effort to join with the local food movement in the United States to raise awareness of the power of agriculture to pull people out of extreme poverty in Africa.

A group of more than 100 riders will bike from the MLK FAME Community Center on East Republican Street in Seattle to Seattle Tilth’s Farm Works (formerly known as the United People’s Farm) in Auburn.

Seattle Tilth Farm Works is working with Somali refugee families to grow and market organic produce.

Seattle Mayor, Mike McGinn, will greet riders at 8:30 a.m. before the race. The mayor has recognized Alleycat Acres’ work in the past, joining the team during a crop mobbing event as part of his initiative to highlight local agriculture in Seattle.

The fundraiser aims to rally rural and urban farmers around the importance of supporting agriculture, both domestically and in the developing world. This is the second annual bike race fundraiser for the farm, which raised more than $15,000 during its inaugural year in 2011.

The rider who raises the most money will win an all-expenses paid trip to Washington D.C., where they will visit the ONE headquarters and have the opportunity to tour a number of urban farms in the nation’s capital.

For more information about ONE and our agricultural work, visit www.one.org.