One Thousand One Hundred Thirty Eight



Theresa Bucci of Salsa Labs with BfW Volunteer Bob Evans

1138 bikes in one week...and we aren't done! Bikes for the World received the second shipment of bikes from the Dick's Sporting Goods trade-in promotion today. Actually we received TWO trucks before day's end.

760 bikes arrived today at our Lorton storage facility in Virginia. We barely got one truck unloaded when the second one pulled up. With the help of volunteers from SALSA, our listserv and online fundraising vendor, and a handful of regular BfW volunteers we were able to unload both of these trucks by the afternoon.

Tight fit at Lorton

With all the rain from earlier in the week the grounds at Lorton were still saturated with water. Our truck driver, however, was game to try to get the truck to our loading dock to make unloading the bikes easier. Unfortunately, due to some obstacles (like a light post) near our makeshift dock and the size of his trailer (53 feet) he was unable to make it work. You can see the tight fit he attempted between the buildings. The grass was also so muddy his wheels were spinning just trying to park.

So here we were again unloading bikes, stacking them outside the building, then rolling them inside after counting them. Our first truck didn't even have a ramp so we were just handing them down to volunteers who moved them out of the way. It was a lot of moving bikes but thanks to all the help we had it went relatively smoothly. And again we were pleased with the high quality of bikes we were receiving and the number of mountain bikes, which are in high demand overseas.

Phil Ruth cannot be stopped.

And today we had bolt cutters to help with the seal, remember I told you not to ask about Monday's incident wrestling the seal? That's how Phil's arm ended up in a sling. Didn't hardly slow him down, however. As Yvette handed off bikes two by two to volunteers rolling them into the gym Phil would request one with a high seat on the left as he wedged it under his bent injured arm. He also continued to process bikes getting his pretty blue sling marked up with the unmistakable grease of a seasoned BfW volunteer.