Top Shops

This month Bikes for the World would like to recognize our many shop partners who help give our donors a convenient location to drop off a bicycle year round...even when our community led collections are dormant.

In 2013 13% of our bike donations (about 2,000 bikes) came in through our local drop off points at our bike shop partners. We also worked with some of the same partners during our regular collection schedule to bring in another 500 bikes.

Race Pace Bicycles

Bikes for the World partners with 14 local shops in MD, VA, and DC all of whom collect bikes year round, issue receipts on our behalf, and store bikes until we can schedule a pick up. Some shops, like Race Pace Bicycles in Maryland and Spokes Etc. in Virginia collect at ALL of their locations and even transport the donated bikes to one shop so we can make one stop and collect about 60 bikes at a time. This makes scheduling our pick ups more efficient and helps us collect more bikes weekly.

Jan and Helen at Bikenetic

Many bike shops, especially in the DC area, are very cramped for space. Those who have warehouse space often have it off site from their actual bike shop, meaning any donations they take for us would need to be transported to another location and stored.

Some shops also save tires and parts for us, which can build up quickly, and as you can imagine mountain bike tires can really take up space. Our shop partners typically store these items for us for several months at a time. Donations to Bikes for the World require a significant commitment to space sharing by our shop partners, for which we are very grateful.

Many of the bikes coming to BfW through bike shops would otherwise end up in the local landfill or recycling bin. Once bike owners find out how much it would cost to repair an old bicycle some turn their attention to the sales floor. When they learn that their old bike could be helping someone live a better life it's often easier to part with their beloved bicycle.

The Mahleys donated two NEW bikes

In other cases, donors are drawn to the shops because they already know they want to donate a bike to Bikes for the World. It's not unusual to find a generous donor, especially around Christmastime, who will buy a brand new bike only to turn around and immediately donate it to BfW.

Last year the Mahleys brought two new Treks from Spokes Etc. that will be shipped out later this year. A mechanic from Race Pace bought and donated 10 new Kona bikes that were shipped to Kenya last year.

Dillard collection at Spokes Ashburn

Although our shop partners like to keep track of how many bikes they donate to us...Race Pace and City Bikes both donated over 500 bikes in the last three years and Spokes donated over 1,000...they are more than supportive of our community driven collections as well.

Some of our partners, like Pedal Pushers in Severna Park, host dedicated bike collections at their shops. All of our partners will help advertise another collection and sometimes give up their supply of bikes to help seed a local collection, like the Eagle project coming up at REI in Fairfax.

For a full list of our partnering shops and this month's BfW All-Stars visit our website.

The Kennedy Center Sends Bikes To Africa

Volunteers from Sasha Bruce help load Kona bike

We recently told you about a unique bike donation coming in through partner bike shop Race Pace in Columbia. 10 brand new Kona Africa bikes were purchased and donated by a part time mechanic; these bikes are currently on their way to partner program Wheels of Africa in Kenya.

We also told you this wasn't the first time this donor generously donated new bikes. A few years ago Norm donated several one speed versions of this Africa Bike. You can read more about this year's donation on our blog OR watch the video.

Muwonge Jalia

Muwonge Jalia received one of those bikes Norm donated last time. She is a widow with 5 children. She is also a member of the Nakyesa Widows and AIDS patients farmers groups in the Kayunga district.

Most of the farmers in the Kayunga district borrow Jalia's bicycle to travel to the markets, health centers, and for personal errands. The proud owners of these new bikes shipped by Bikes for the World refused to remove the cardboard packing from the frames in an effort to keep them unscratched and protected even as they started using them for work.

 If you watched the video you heard Norm ask about other people donating NEW bikes and saw another one that came in through Spokes Etc in Virginia.

Then we remembered another unique donation that came in a couple years ago after the maximum India program at the Kennedy Center.

28 bikes were donated to BfW from the Kennedy Center

We were contacted by the Kennedy Center as their international festival featuring India was winding down. They had 28 sturdy Indian made bicycles on display during this festival that celebrated Indian culture and art forms. They were interested in donating all the bikes to Bikes for the World.

There were some adult tricycles and bicycles with heavy duty racks you see to the left. Here the bikes are waiting at our Lorton facility before being shipped to Uganda fall 2011.

Fred Musunda

Well late last year we got this story back from Uganda about Fred Musunda, the owner of a brand new Atlas bike (indeed, the same one you may have seen on display at the Kennedy Center!)

In Uganda, milk plays an important role in food security and the fight against malnutrition.  Fred Musunda collects milk from rural farmers in Matugga (about 15km from the city) and transports it to the urban markets and individual households.

Farmers in rural areas have turned to collectors with bicycles to transport the milk and ghee (butter) they produce. Fred bought a bicycle through the Prisoners Support Organisation to help him deliver fresh milk and ghee to his customers.

Fred bought a new Atlas from PSO

Unfortunately his Avon bicycle (seen above) was worn out, limiting how much milk he could transport to his customers. After visiting the PSO Bike Center Fred was able to purchase this brand new Atlas bike (seen left) with a rack big enough to handle the 40 litre containers of milk he had become accustomed to carrying.

He noted that since it was a rainy season, the milk production was high and yet the roads in Matugga were impassable and only bicycle riders could access farmers. Bicycles play a big role in the milk collection industry since most roads out of town are not easily accessible by motor-vehicles. There are about 35 milk collectors in this area who sell locally produced raw milk and dairy products to theurban markets/trading centers. 

This Atlas bike is one of the very same bikes seen above at Lorton and donated by the Kennedy Center in 2011.  And although Keith, Phil, Yvette, or Nick (all of whom helped pick up (literally) these bikes from DC and made sure they made it in the container for Uganda) will tell you these bikes weighed a ton, Fred Musunda will tell you it's perfect! He is the envy of other milk collectors in the area who all want a similar bike to his. He also noted that his weekly profits doubled after purchasing his new bike.

NORM!

Norm Jacob, Kevin Dolan, and Keith Oberg

Cheers! We had a donor give us TEN brand NEW Kona Africa bikes around Christmastime last year and we want everyone to know his name. So when you wander into Race Pace Bicycles in Columbia this season we want you to yell, "Norm" like you just walked into that famous bar in Boston.

This isn't the first time Norm Jacob donated a fleet of new bicycles to Bikes for the World. A few years back he bought quite a few one speed Kona Africa Bikes that we shipped to Uganda.

Then late last year, we got word from Race Pace that he was at it again! This time he bought 10 3-speed Africa Bikes that were included in our latest shipment to Kenya.

But we wanted to know more about our "Secret Santa" so we went up to Race Pace to meet him in person. Turns out Norm is a part time mechanic there.

Norm shared with us how that happened, "I used to be in public service. I'd just like to do something completely different. And this is completely different."

When Norm retired he was looking around for something to do (besides ride his bike) and an employee at Race Pace suggested he take their Parks Tool course. After he finished up the guy approached him and offered him a job.

"I thought, let's give this a shot. That was seven or eight years ago."

That would be about right. Norm told us the reason he originally took the job at Race Pace was because he had heard about Bikes for the World and he wanted to get involved with the organization. "I got to thinking that was a pretty good thing to do," says Norm. So he wanted to hone his skills to help BfW.

"We often had to wrestle, literally, with them in the back 'til they got picked up." He is talking about our bike donations that come in through Race Pace. All Race Pace locations serve as an intake point for us. In fact, before opening their new shop, they even let us park a trailer at their Ellicott City location.

 When Norm found out we ship the bikes overseas 'as is' to help generate employment there, he decided to make an even bigger impact. So he decided to use an employee discount to buy new bikes to donate.

New bike donation from Donald Mahley

"I certainly hope I'm not the only one who's donated new bikes," Norm humbly questioned.

And after poking around the warehouse, we managed to find this brand new Trek (left) that came in through Spokes Etc., also around the holidays.

All of these new bikes were recently loaded by Sasha Bruce Youthwork, who came out to Lorton for a service project. This shipment will be sent to BfW partner Wheels of Africa in Kenya.

Several regular volunteers as well as some from Fairfax Volunteers for Change came out during the two-day load to help us process many bikes that came in from area bike shops.

After a year-end holiday sales offer, Spokes Etc, our largest local bike retailer partner, added another 50 or more bikes to our supply. Many of these bikes were included in this 522 bike shipment (quite a few of them 'like new'). We are confident that our Kenyan partner will LOVE this container.