Removing Pedals and Prejudices

Keith Oberg working with CFP in 2011

In addition to our work overseas, one of the aspects of our program at Bikes for the World that we are most proud of is the community service projects we create right here in DC. We work with Eagle Scout candidates, Rotary clubs, school groups, companies...just about all walks of life.

But it's groups like the recent one that came out to help load at Lorton that really cause us to pause and realize the scope of benefit Bikes for the World generates from our work. Loadings are a great Team Building activity we offer to a variety of groups. Team-building with Bikes for the World is a powerful way to unite a group that also offers a sense of accomplishment and greater good. Develop communication skills, build confidence, and identify weaknesses all while providing life altering transportation to remote villages across the globe.


Cyprus youth teams coming together

Meet the Cyprus Friendship Program (CFP). For several years CFP has been partnering with BfW every summer to help load bikes to ship overseas to transform lives. What is important to note, however, is how this activity is transforming their own lives.

The Cyprus Friendship Program offers a unique experience for teens living amongst the prejudices of the deeply divided Greek Cypriot-Turkish Cypriot island of Cyprus. The goal is to introduce both sides to each other and help them recognize commonalities while dispelling a hatred that spans almost 40 years since its civil war.

CFP takes teens from both sides of the divide and partners them together in a year long program that teaches them how to work together. This program is proof that peace IS possible and offers inspiration and hope to the island of Cyprus.

During the summer, the Cypriot youth pairs are hosted by American families for the month of July to further promote friendship and understanding among these two divided groups. The hope is to provide a model elsewhere in the Middle East.

It's about more than just a bike

The youth pairs are sent to 6 different areas in the US, two of which are right here in the DC area. BfW Board Member, Tom McCarthy, has been bringing a Cypriot group of about 20 teens to help BfW load containers and process bikes for shipping for several years now.

 "Before we give the several pairs in the DC area training in Conflict Resolution and Peace Building, it's important to further break down their caution about the teens from the other side and build them into a team. The Bikes for the World experience has been perfect for this. It allowed the teens to spend the better part of a day achieving the goal of loading a shipping container together," said McCarthy, who is also a CFP Maryland/DC Coordinator.

“….you are doing one of the best jobs in the world. You are helping, sending bikes to people that you don’t know who they are…” Halil Leelener, participant, Cyprus Friendship Program

“Thank you so much for organizing Bikes for the World and being just awesome.” ‘Buse’, Cyprus Friendship Program

“You were so patient with us, you taught us a lot of useful skills and also you were fun to speak with.” Kyriacos, Cyprus Friendship Program 2012

Watch a 2010 video from the CFP highlighting the program and all the team building activities:

The Hottest Volunteers

George Mason Center for Social Entrepreneurs

We won't admit to having 'favorites' at BfW but there are always All-Stars when it comes to volunteering. In June that stand out group may have been the George Mason Center for Social Entrepreneurs.

Over the past month BfW has been busy out at Lorton every single weekend. Partners in Costa Rica, Kenya, Panama, and Barbados are all receiving containers already this summer via Bikes for the World (and in large part thanks to Dick's Sporting Goods).

BfW stays very busy in the spring and the fall and often uses the summer and winter to take a break, catch up on paperwork, and prepare for the upcoming season. 2012 brought a beneficial twist: 4,000 bikes came in and filled our storage site in Lorton.

Lorton bikes at capacity

After the challenge of receiving, unloading, and storing all these bikes, came the turn around. Every Friday and Saturday in June and July you will find BfW staff and dedicated volunteers unstacking and loading all of these bikes for shipping overseas.

Fortunately we have the help of amazing volunteers from students to corporations who have signed up to participate in these team building loads as groups. This gives BfW the power to load quickly and efficiently.

Tree damage at Lorton storage site.

Little did we know, this would prove to be incredibly important. As many of you probably know, the DC area experienced a Super Storm the weekend of June 30th. After a sweltering Friday, loading in temperatures above 100 degrees, a derecho (I mean this thing is so rare, spellcheck doesn't even know the word!) swept through the area with winds of upwards of 80mph.

Over one million residents found themselves without power, some for over a week. And unlike most storms this one did not bring relief from the heat.

Despite the odds, the All-Star group from George Mason showed up eager to work on Saturday morning. For those of you who have been out to Lorton, you know it's a bit of a drive up to the old gym from Lorton Road. But the derecho knocked down trees and blocked the road up to the old prison, so everyone had to park by the road and hike up to the trailer.

Even though we don't have electricity normally out there, no one in the area had it this weekend. Finding ice, cold drinks, even gas for the car proved to be difficult for these dedicated volunteers out to help BfW finish loading. And after another hot day in an even hotter shipping container, some of these folks had to go home to no AC or electric.

Hats off to everyone who helped with this record setting weekend's load. Tiffany Hsia, Katrina Delany, Ian Burpo, Kaitlyn Hammack, Taylor Scarce, April Emile-Theil, Frank Petricoin, Steve Tomey, and the aptly named Jennifer Storm...you all ROCK! And of course Sarah and Nick who worked through the record breaking 104 degree Friday into the challenging Saturday finish. They say this was the hottest June day in over 140 years and I think Sarah Miller might call this group our hottest volunteers!

The Numbers

4191
The numbers are in even though not all of the bikes are yet! I'm talking about the recent partnership with Dick's Sporting Goods(DSG) and Bikes for the World. DSG recently offered a promotion to their customers that involved trading in an old bike for a new one, or rather money off a new one.

And I bet you aren't really asking what they did with the old ones since you are reading this here! Yes, indeed, all of those traded in bikes have been trickling, okay trucking, into Lorton the last two weeks. THOUSANDS of bikes! We are thrilled to have such and amazing partner like DSG.

481
That's how many stores participated in the promotion yielding us those 4,191 bikes. We will be getting our last shipment sometime next week. Then comes the task of shipping them all back out again!Hats off to the staff at DSG who really helped us out by watching our processing video and prepping the bikes BfW style,  just like our Collection Managers and volunteers. This saved us tons of time and themselves tons of space as they also packed the trailers to be sent from their distribution centers from Atlanta to the Mid West.

12
There were twelve 53' containers in all, two of them shared with our sister organization Working Bikes in Chicago, who also ships to some of our same partners overseas. Each of these trucks held somewhere close to 350-400 bikes.

Consider the fact that we typically load about 500 bikes inside a 40' container! We did see a few damaged wheels coming in from DSG possibly from the movement in the back of the trailer.

500+
Our rows are packed a lot tighter when we ship overseas. Sometimes you may wonder if this damages the derailleurs the way we push on them. We have gotten some feedback that gears need tweaked on the other side, obviously (I'm pretty sure I have a bike or two in my shed that need tweaked right now too!) but overall, the damage that could potentially be done if they have the room to rock with the ocean is much worse.

Once we off loaded all the incoming bikes our volunteers counted and confirmed the totals. We then took on the bigger task of going over all the bikes.

Craig Annear hands down a bike off an earlier DSG delivery

2 AWESOME!
How was the quality of the bikes donated you ask? Can you say AWESOME?! Only about 2 per 500 weren't up to our standards to ship overseas. That means out of 4,191 bikes, 4,180 of them will be shipped in tact overseas. That's incredible! Anything not up to our standards is stripped for usable parts and those parts are then shipped with the bikes.

Bikes for the World has a reputation across the globe of sending not only quality bikes but also the right kind of bike for the local terrain. We listen to our International Partners and give them what they need. More often than not this is a sturdier, fatter tired bike, good for hauling goods over unpaved roads. This is exactly what we received from DSG more often than not; about 80-90% of the bikes donated fit this description. 

Don't take my word for it. See it for yourself. Check out the bikes, see them fill the space, count them if you can!

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.

It's Raining Bikes!

The bikes are in. Well, ONE load of them. 378 bikes to be exact. This is the first shipment of MANY Bikes for the World will be receiving from our recent partnership with Dick's Sporting Goods (DSG).

For one week, to kick off Bike Month, DSG held an in-store promotion accepting trade-ins for money off a new bike. Those trade-in bikes were in turn generously offered to BfW from DSG.

In each of their 481 stores, customers were able to trade in a bike when purchasing a new one. We love this deal not only because we are awaiting over 3,500 bikes, but because a new bike will hopefully get a cyclist riding a bike even more! This is why we love partnering with bike shops...it's a win-win-win, for programs overseas, bike shops, and the local rider.

Thank you to everyone who came out to help with this first shipment...Bob, Craig, Phil, Adam, Paul, Keith, Nick, and Yvette. They braved the weather, fought the traffic, wrestled with the bolt seal (don't ask) to make this first shipment roll without a hitch.

The weather did prevent the truck from pulling closer to our storage area and therefore our makeshift 'dock' but thankfully the truck had a ramp. So we rolled the bikes right off the truck and against the building.

Most of the bikes needed more processing, but thanks to DSG staff not much. They did a great job removing the pedals and attaching them to the frames with cable ties. They also turned the handlebars and took off some training wheels (thank you!) BfW pitched in by finishing up the final processing tweaks, counted the bikes, and stacked them inside to join the others soon enough.

In this shipment we found bikes coming from Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Iowa, even as far away as California (but we suspect that might have been from someone who moved). And the quality of the bikes is AWESOME! We don't know where these bikes will be heading yet, but with this many bikes, maybe ALL of our partners! They will certainly be in West Africa and Central America possibly by this fall.

On Wednesday we will be preparing to receive TWO shipments in the same day. We are hoping for sunshine and dry ground so we can pull the trucks closer to the old gym. Ideally, we would like to be able to roll the bikes straight from the truck to the gym, that's one of the reasons we process the bikes the way we do.

People often say, "wouldn't it be even smaller if you took the wheels off?" Well, it doesn't save a TON of space to do this AND you have to carry the bikes to load. And remember our shipments are over 500 bikes so that's a lot of carrying. And don't be fooled by those 'small' bikes, some of them are the heaviest ones!  So that's why we leave the wheels on...we like to make our volunteers' work as simple as possible. Hope to see you out there soon!

Send In The Bikes

BfW space in Lorton Gymnasium

Lorton is ready. Bikes for the World staff and dedicated volunteers spent the week preparing our Lorton storage area for the big shipment of bikes expected this next week from Dick's Sporting Goods. I for one, have never seen the gym look this nice! The bikes are stacked and the floor is swept.

Word on the street is there are TONS of bikes heading this way from the week long promotion at DSG, with the first truck slated to arrive on Monday morning. The official total? 3,660! There's a total of about 8 trailers heading this way filled with bikes; have I mentioned we need help next week? Call the office for times (they vary from day to day, but we could get a truckload every day next week!). One load of bikes is actually going to our sister organization Working Bikes in Chicago who will help us load and ship more bikes overseas.

Meanwhile back at Lorton, we never stop. The loading for the Prisoners Support Organization in Uganda is underway. When I left, dedicated volunteers like Phil Ruth, Fred Schuyler, Bob Evans, and Peter Berty were hard at work rolling bikes onto the mostly empty trailer. You can see Phil here on the left with Keith packing the first row of bikes and filling in space with tiny bikes and tubes and parts.

Also never resting, are our bike collections. We have two tomorrow: one at Bishop O'Connell HS and one in Waldorf with Waldorf Kiwanis. So if you donate a bike at one of these two sites tomorrow there is a high chance it could end up in this trailer and be in Uganda Africa by next month!

Okay, to recap...we are busy packing about 500 bikes into the trailer above. Starting Monday, trailers will start arriving each carrying about 350 bikes, totalling maybe 10 truckloads. We need to unload these trucks in two hours or less and get ready for the next one. We will be separating and organizing these bikes as they come in so they are ready for the next loading at Lorton, which I feel compelled to point out will be long overdue by week's end when we refill the gym with over 3,000 bikes!

Phil Ruth

We are expecting a great crew of folks to come out and help...but there is always room for one more! And I hate to point out the obvious, but with Phil amongst our ranks, we have plenty of clowns! SEND IN THE BIKES! We. Are. Ready.

If you've never met this character Phil (only heard about him) you really need to come out this week to at least meet him. For years he has been representing BfW in Western Maryland. He's been supporting collections, picking up bikes at shops, pushing bikes in containers (yes, that's him sitting on his butt with the bikes, a huge smile on his face!), and even turning in our scrap metal for recycling.

 I heard a rumor (ugly, ugly rumor) he might be moving soon so I'm taking a second to give a shout out to one of our hardest working, most dedicated volunteers. If you've worked with him...you already know! Thanks Phil!!