Bikes Build Leadership From the Ground Up

Bikes for the World offers a great outlet to corporations looking for a rewarding team building experience for their employees. Whether the corporate group joins us for a loading or just a processing day in the warehouse, it's a fun activity for colleagues to connect with each other outside a cubicle.

A third way for a corporation to bring employees together for a team building activity to benefit the community is a bike build. Two companies recently donated two dozen bikes from these bike builds that we turned around and donated locally and overseas.

During a corporate event, Rockville based Apex Companies purchased and assembled seven Diamondback 24" mountain bikes. The event was held in Chantilly and involved employees from all over the country.

Teams were responsible for building the bikes from the box and ensuring that the wheels turned and the brakes stopped.

Apex Companies contacted us before the event to ensure the bikes would be useful to our program. We asked that they donate a larger size bike, which would be more beneficial, so they purchased the 24" size from DICK'S Sporting Goods.

Bikes for the World identified two local organizations who could use the bikes to support two school programs. During our 100k donation events in November, BfW donated two Apex built bikes to Gearin' Up Bicycles in DC and two to Phoenix Bikes in Arlington. We also included two in the container to Costa Rica that will be arriving just in time for Christmas.

DICK'S Sporting Goods also recently hosted a bike build (to experience what their mechanics in the bike shop do) at their headquarters in Pittsburgh. Those 16 20" bikes were donated to Bikes for the World and also shipped in the container heading to FINCA Costa Rica.

Student mechanics at Phoenix Bikes

Both local bike organizations that received these new bikes offer earn-a-bike programs to area youth where they can learn mechanics while earning a bike. Most bikes donated to the program are used and in need of repairs and tune ups which offer a great experience to these student mechanics.

The new bikes from Apex Companies will be used in two local school projects that promote cycling as a healthy lifestyle choice. The bikes will also be used to increase bicycle safety and awareness .

Phoenix Bikes identified a school in Alexandria that needed the Diamondbacks for a school project next spring. Cora Kelly Elementary School operates a program called Bike for your Brain that is turning students into safer cyclists and bike advocates.

Fifth graders will bike between elementary schools to learn safe bike routes while improving their riding and safety skills. Through their PE class they will learn how biking supports an active, healthy lifestyle. They will also improve leadership skills and become better bike advocates.

Over in DC, Gearin' Up Bicycles has identified a program designed to teach similar skills to students at Capital City Charter School. This winter, students will begin by learning the mechanics of a bike. The Apex Companies bikes donated to Gearin' Up Bicycles will actually be stripped down to the frame and rebuilt by students in this learning earn-a-bike experience.

Students will then learn safety and practice their riding skills as it starts to warm up next spring. The program ends with a 335 mile bike ride from DC to Pittsburgh....uphill!

Apex fall bike build

Team building activities can motivate the team create energy, and inspire enthusiasm amongst staff. It's a valuable tool in a company to increase productivity in the workplace...and can be used to make a huge impact in the community.

Apex Companies offers comprehensive professional and field services to assess, prevent and cure environmental issues related to water, ground, facilities and air quality. Blending superb technical skills with creativity and business savvy, they focus on how to reduce or eliminate environmental risks and liabilities economically and expediently.

Simply put, this partnership was a perfect fit!

Give a Man A Bike...

Mauricio of Phoenix Bikes

Better yet...teach him (or her) how to fix one! There is a saying about giving a man a fish vs. teaching a man to fish. That basic principle is exactly how our local bike organizations work in DC. It's also the foundation for how Bikes for the World operates and donates bikes around the world.

Mauricio came up through the earn-a-bike program established through Phoenix Bikes in Arlington. He learned the basics of a bike, and dove into more complex mechanics as he hung out in the tiny shed on the edge of Barcroft Park over the years. He is now a paid mechanic at Papillon Cycles.

Gearin' Up Bicycles

They are riding in the same gear over at Gearin' Up Bicycles in Northeast DC. This local group is creating career development opportunities and teaching essential workplace skills to teens from underserved communities through earn-a-bike programs that also promote cycling as a healthy lifestyle choice.

Phoenix Bikes has been "specializing in awesome" since 2007 and Gearin' Up has been up and running since 2012. Gearin' Up Bicycles just moved to a new permanent location at 314 Randolph Place NE. Phoenix Bikes is still operating in Barcoft Park, Arlington.

Both groups offer affordable bikes for sale reconditioned by trained youth enrolled in the program. Beginning in December Gearin' Up will open the shop to YOU on Tuesdays from 6-8pm for their BYOB (Build Your Own Bike) program.

Craig Annear helps load donated bike

Bikes for the World is proud to donate bikes to both of these local youth programs in the DC area. Bikes for the World's mission is to help provide affordable transportation to workers and students who need the bikes to better their lives. On November 15, 2014 BfW donated its 100,000th bicycle since 2005.

Because of the volume of bikes collected and donated at BfW, our main focus is partnering with other non-profit groups who have established programs in place that support our mission. This allows us to concentrate on moving a large number of bikes, therefore helping a greater number of people, without the distraction of fixing up bikes that are in need of repair.

Donation to Phoenix Bikes

The donations from BfW helps support programs locally and around the world, providing life skills that will improve the lives of beneficiaries enrolled in the programs. Our partners often teach mechanics and business skills that allow people to open and operate successful bike shops in rural Africa and the streets of inner city El Salvador.

Back here at home, Phoenix and Gearin' Up are doing similar work, teaching life skills to youth in the DC area. They are learning how to work as a team in a business setting and earning bikes in the process. Both groups offer valuable after school activities that engage and teach its members. They also do a lot of community outreach, offering group rides and participating in local events.

And the donating and support goes both ways. Phoenix Bikes organized a ride over to the BfW warehouse to help us celebrate donating our 100,000th bike this past weekend. As you can see, they weren't empty-handed when they arrived, toting a healthy supply of tires for our shipment.

Bikes for the World donates road bikes locally that aren't as suitable for the rural roads overseas. Both Phoenix and Gearin' Up also collect bikes on their own and often end up with bikes and/or parts in excess of what they need or can use. They then donate those items to BfW for use overseas. Our groups work together to provide the best bikes to the best areas around the world.

Waldorf Kiwanis will deliver 180 bikes to Pikeville KY

During our 100k event weekend, Bikes for the World donated over 200 bikes to three local bike organizations including a church group in Pikeville Kentucky.

In 2014, BfW donated more bikes locally than any other year, a testament to our growth pattern across the board. Over 1,000 bikes donated to BfW stayed here at home serving nine different local groups in 2014. Since our beginning in 2005, BfW has donated about 4% of all collected bikes to local groups.