6,000 Bikes. And Counting...

Paul Crawford

It seems like every year we are comparing someone with Otterbein United Methodist Church and this year is no different. It's because after a dozen bike collections with Bikes for the World,  this crew is a well oiled machine worthy of mention and comparison.

So last week we noted the amazing efforts of the Frederick based Rotary Club of Carroll Creek. After a year of collecting bikes for their 2017 annual bike drive, the Frederick County Rotarians turned in an impressive 902 bikes! This ramped up their overall collection total to 3,127 bikes, making them the BfW record holder since 2005.

Mike Johnston accepting the 1k Award

They knocked off Washington County's Otterbein United Methodist Church who held that title since....FOREVER. In fact, back in 2009 Otterbein UM broke records (which still hold today) by collecting 400 bikes in one day. This is the BfW record for a one day, one location bike donation drop off point by any of our partners.

It was that '09 effort that put Otterbein UM into a club they essentially created, our 1k Club. This distinction is for any BfW partner who has collected over 1,000 bikes donated on our behalf.  Today, there are 10 members. Two well on their way to earning a place in our 5k Club...Otterbein United Methodist Church and the Rotary Club of Carroll Creek.

Otterbein 2017 Crew

On April 29th, Otterbein UM reclaimed their title by collecting 268 bikes during their 2017 bike drive, taking their overall total to 3,136 bikes. Nine more than the neighboring Rotarians. Every year we hear the same thing from donors, volunteers, and even the organizers of this collection...there can't be that many bikes every year, but then there are. We joked about getting them wet like Gremlins, they just keep multiplying. (and yes the kids of today got that joke)

In fact, this year's total was only two bikes less than last year's total. In the thirteen years that Otterbein UM has been collecting bikes the last weekend of April, only three years fell below 200 bikes. And barely: 187, 188, and 189.

Otterbein UM is also the single biggest source of our donated sewing machines, many of which end up in Costa Rica to help tailors start sewing businesses that support their families. 

Ryliah Hill learns how to take off pedals for the first time

But it's not just about bike totals. Overseas, each bike on average affects four lives and at over 3,000 bikes donated, that's a lot of positive change. But the work Otterbein UM does just in their own community is worth so much more right here at home. Otterbein UM is known for their 'parking lot ministry'. What is that saying? Open Hearts. Open Minds. Open Doors. Yeah, that.

Otterbein UM works in the community, for the community. While the bikes they collect for BfW do not stay within the Hagerstown community, the commitment to service and outreach does. Over the years, we see many familiar faces wielding a wrench and slinging off pedals. But every year we also see new faces being mentored and trained by those dedicated volunteers who helped collect the very first bikes. This is important to us and our effort, but we also know that volunteering is a 'bug' that stays with you throughout your life.

According to Cindy Brown, one of the main collection managers of this successful effort, they had four generations out there working side by side. Every year she is impressed with the turn out both from donors and volunteers. Neighborhood kids even came over to lend a hand this year.

"When you first begin a partnership with Bikes for the World, it is rewarding to consider the local and global benefits. By now - after 13 collections - it is astounding to realize over 3,000 bikes have been pulled out of storage, kept out of the landfill, and put to good use," Cindy Brown.

And because this is just a friendly competition where everyone benefits, we'll go ahead and point out by Monday April 25th the Rotarians already had another dozen bikes toward their 2018 goal...so technically they are still leading the pack :)

Congratulations to both groups, and thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Now That's How You Do Earth Day

April 22nd Bikes for the World shifted our operations north (and we aren't talking North Bethesda). We took a drive up the Pike to support the 12th annual Rotary Club of Carroll Creek bike collection. We had it on good authority it was going to be a good year.

This year was indeed special. Last year the Rotarians set a goal of one bike a day for a year. Last time we checked that is 365 days, typically- so 365 bikes right? Well the Rotarians must be dyslexic (and that's quite okay) because they actually turned over 539 bikes to us in 2016.

That effort was led by Richard Foot who turned over the reins to Norm Birzer this year who headed the bicycle committee for the Rotary club. And not to be outdone by his predecessor, Norm upped the ante. They continued to store bikes in an old dairy barn and increased their daily bike pick ups at bike shops, recycling centers, police departments, individual homes, etc.

By the first of the year, BfW was hearing rumors of well over 500 bikes already in storage...the same number of bikes we typically pack in a shipping container. So at a staff meeting Outreach Coordinator Yvette Hess asks Director Keith Oberg, "What is the feasibility of bringing a container directly into the barn where the Rotary club is storing bikes?" It was a long shot, but it beat moving all those bikes down to our warehouse...and at the time, we still didn't have our new warehouse figured out. That, and Keith LOVES this kind of challenge.

Shane Sellers of Frederick Community College

Well, it didn't take long to convince the Rotarians...a loading is fun and generates a lot of excitement for the program. And it's quite rewarding to collect the bikes for a single container and know exactly where it is heading.

This time, that program was CESTA in El Salvador. And the loading was scheduled for Earth Day, the day of their annual collection, at Triangle Motors in Frederick.

CESTA led bike ride in El Salvador

And what a perfect pairing.CESTA is very focused on Earth/climate issues. Just last month CESTA hosted the second ride for the environment in the town of San Pedro Masahuat, La Paz. The message being, ride your bike, save the earth! More than a hundred riders from surrounding schools along with community members who care about the environment participated in this pedaling 'protest'.

CESTA director Richard Navarro had this to say about riding a bike, "the bicycle is a mechanism that does not consume oil, does not contaminate the environment, does not generate noxious gases that impact the ecosystem."

Mackenzie Clark, Amber Meyers, and Dylan Wood

We were now still moving bikes from the barn to the loading, just not as far, being uber conscious of our carbon footprint during Earth Month. We pulled together an amazing team of Rotarians to help get this greasy wheel turning on Friday, and finished up with a collection of Rotarians and a great team from the Hood Rotaract Club.

But there was still a very active bike collection happening simultaneously. Thanks to May's BfW Featured Volunteer Sam Clingman, everything was moving along like a fine tuned drive train. Sam kept the volunteers in line prepping bikes and moving them to the container to be shipped to El Salvador. Donors got to see their bikes going directly into the shipment and the volunteers really got to see how and why the bike prepping is so important.

Richard Foot

It was chilly. It was rainy. We had a lot of work to get done in a short amount of time. No better team than the Rotary Club of Carroll Creek to get 'er done. The final count on that annual collection? 902 bikes (they were still coming in even after we closed the container, took down the tent and packed the wrenches away in the car). Um, yeah, we could have used TWO containers!

For the last four years, this collection has been stationed at Triangle Motors in Frederick. In the last four years the collection has yielded nearly 2,000 of the 3,000 total bikes collected over the last 12 years. It was the perfect place to celebrate their accomplishments with a container loading, despite the weather.

"You need to plan better and get better weather for this," joked Tom Meacham of Triangle Motor and also a member of the Rotary Club of Carroll Creek.

"It's Earth Day!" quipped back Richard Foot, the Rotarian who led the charge to take this collection to another level over two years ago.


"Well, this is pretty Earthy!" observed Tom.

Service Above Self

Bikes for the World 'fines' Richard Foot this month in recognition of our featured volunteer series. Fellow Rotarians will recognize and understand this 'fining' immediately. Dick, pay up.

Dick Foot is a member of the Rotary Club of Carroll Creek (RCCC). During Club meetings the President will 'fine' a member as a way of recognizing them for their accomplishments or to share what's going on in their life. President of the Rotary Club of Carroll Creek, Fred Genau, this is your ticket to fine Dick Foot, BfW volunteer of the month of April.

This year in their annual Bikes for the World bike drive, the Rotary Club of Carroll Creek collected 149 bikes that will be donated globally over the next few months.

This isn't even a personal best. Over the years the Club has collected over 1300 bikes for Bikes for the World. And although we are naming Dick Foot as our volunteer of the month, there are a lot of people behind the success of this collection.

Zoltan Nagy, also a member of the same Rotary Club, ran very successful bike drives annually in Frederick. During his tenure as collection manager, RCCC collected 201, 254, and 240 bikes. Fred, fine Zoltan too.

This year the Club moved the collection across town to Triangle Motors. And despite major traffic delays on Route 15, the bike collection had a successful turn out, come hell or high water. A water main break forced a busy Rt. 15 into one lane having some donors racing the clock to make it on time.

The success of this year's collection included a lot of planning and even more outreach. Dick did a tremendous job reaching out to the community and gaining support from a number of businesses and individuals. Almost too many to mention.

Shane Sellers, seen above, delivered a few truck loads of bikes to the collection that he collected over the year at Frederick Community College. Bike shops, Wheelbase, The Bicycle Escape, and 3-Points Cycle kicked in their support and encouragement.

The Frederick News Post and Gazette helped advertise the collection. Zoltan even did a radio interview about Bikes for the World. Several donors credit these news outlets to alerting them about the collection AND introducing them to Bikes for the World.

The Rotaract Club of Hood College and the Interact Club of Thomas Johnson High school all kicked in to help promote the collection and volunteer this past weekend.

RCCC Rotarian Jean-Louis LePage has also been a tremendous help to Dick throughout the year to help make this collection a success. Jean-Louis stored bikes at his downtown sign business and will continue to collect bikes over the next year as well.

So you see it's almost unfair to name just one man for this month's featured volunteer. But in his sophomore effort, Dick doubled the number of bikes collected from last year. His outreach before the collection was unprecedented. And his gratitude and thanks to everyone involved was expressed time and time again.

Congratulations Rotary Club of Carroll Creek, for a job well done, yet again. Keep up the great work!