MLK WEEK of Service

Bikes for the World honored Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a series of community service events across the area. Taking advantage of our warmer warehouse in Arlington, this year we loaded in Virginia rather than our normal location at King Farm in Rockville.

This loading event took place on Saturday January 18th and Monday January 20th. We loaded over 400 bikes along with tons of parts, mostly from DC's Capital Bikeshare program. The container is heading to Panama's Goodwill program where trained mechanics will refurbish the donated bikes and sell them in the storefront. Money from the program supports the bike project as well as the program training disabled individuals in areas such as welding and metal working.

Swing Phi Swing Social Fellowship

Joining us on this two day event were volunteers from NOVA's Meetup Group, the students at Burgundy Farm Country Day School, and members of the Swing Phi Swing Social Fellowship.

A variety of activities marked this MLK Day opportunity. Volunteers focused on organizing the warehouse, sorting parts, processing bikes, taking in bikes, and loading the container for Panama.

CHO bike donation

The Community for Helping Others (CHO) in Fairfax arrived mid-day Saturday with a truck full of donated bikes. CHO joins forces with BfW partner shop Bikes@Vienna to collect bikes every winter to donate to local charities.

Dan Larkins, Director of CHO, collects and fixes bikes every year for beneficiaries in Fairfax that are hand picked by the county as in need of assistance. Larkins hand delivered the surplus to BfW this past weekend. And we have to mention the expert parking job by his driver as he squeezed their truck around our trailer to get to the dock.

Greg Houston Senior VP External Affairs Meridian

On Monday BfW participated in the Meridian International Center's first annual "Warm up DC" Event. Meridian hosted a series of simultaneous events to maximize the outpouring of volunteerism for the benefit of Martha's Table in DC with donated food and clothing for the disadvantaged.

Bikes for the World also benefited, not only from an unseasonably warm day, but from the donation of over 30 bikes from two locations. We were aided in this effort with labor from volunteers from George Washington University, DC Bike Party, Kasper's Cargos, and Burgundy Farm students who were hard at work processing donated bikes at our warehouse.

BfW would like to express special gratitude to Malina Keutel of Meridian for all of her hard work and outreach in support of this successful event.

Endorphin Fitness, Richmond VA

Boots, of Kasper's Cargos, has been working with BfW for several months helping us transport bikes to our warehouses. In fact, just last week, he delivered some of the bikes collected January 11th in Richmond at Endorphin Fitness.

Despite a cold, rainy collection day, Endorphin Fitness collected about 100 bikes for BfW, kicking off the 2014 season in style. This was a first time collection effort for Endorphin Fitness.

Some of the bikes coming from Richmond were included on the Panama trailer loaded during our MLK Day service event. The remaining bikes from Endorphin Fitness and the ones from Meridian will be loaded in February and donated to our Costa Rica partner, FINCA.

Collaborated with John Burg, BfW Board of Directors and Program Committee Chairman

Featured Volunteers: Our Superheroes

George Tyler and Hellen Gelband, BfW board members

Bikes for the World boasts an active and passionate volunteer base, and that doesn't stop at the Board. Some non-profits have board members who aren't overly active in the organization. That couldn't be further from the truth at BfW!

Behind the scenes they've got a ton going on from committees, documentation, interviewing, you name it. But come out to a collection, loading, or event and you might find a board member driving a truck, handing out literature, or wrestling a rusty pedal off a 2013 DICK'S donation...Karen Hendrixson!

Calvert County 2008

Board member Ted Haynie brought us this massive effort in 2008 where the Calvert County school system banded together and did a gigantic collection AND loading on the same day. And if you look closely at the picture you'll see two other board standouts...George Tyler and Hellen Gelband.

George and Hellen were on the steering committee before we formed an official Board. We can't honestly say how many years they've been at this, but let's just say it's longer than Bikes for the World! Hellen joined the bike collecting effort back when it was Pedals for Progress and she was instantly hooked. Her first collection was at Hudson Trail Outfitters in Rockville with another BfW veteran running the show, Zoltan Nagy, from Carroll Creek Rotary fame.

Takoma Park Alternative Gift Fair

Hellen and George are pretty much 'fixtures' at the Alternative Gift Fair in Takoma Park, representing BfW. They've also been spotted at the big Green Fest in downtown DC.

George is our Treasurer, which is a natural fit given his background. George worked on Capitol Hill with Senators Hubert Humphrey and Lloyd Bentsen, and as Senior Economist on the Joint Economic Committee before being appointed by President Clinton as a Treasury deputy assistant secretary.

And just for the record, he is our newest budding author! George recently finished his first book, which is already receiving rave reviews. You can look for it on Amazon: What Went Wrong: How the 1% Hijacked the American Middle Class...And What Other Countries Got Right. Preorder your copy today; it's coming out this July.

Hellen in Kenya with Prisca Oluoch of Wheels of Africa

Hellen is one of the few people in BfW who has actually seen the work we do internationally on the ground. Through work, she has traveled to Kenya many times and met with the director of one of our newest partners Wheels of Africa.

Both Hellen and George worked tirelessly (pun unintentional) on another international mission outside the biking community. Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) was started a decade ago in connection with Doctors Without Borders. In short, this organization works to make things better for doctors in the field by concentrating on certain parasitic diseases that are often neglected by drug companies. Seriously, check out that link above, what Hellen and George have done for BfW is nothing short of amazing, but the work with DNDi is most definitely saving lives.

At Takoma Park Middle School

Back at BfW, these guys could fill a scrapbook of bike collections over the years. They've been to Maryland, Virginia, DC. They have loaded containers at every warehouse we've ever had. They've written receipts, mentored youth, spun off a pedal, or two, or a thousand. They have seen that our audits were completed, and our annual reports edited. Basically they keep Keith, and the rest of us in line and on track.

Through sweltering temps, heavy rains, and an occasional blizzard you can find this dynamic duo wielding a pedal wrench or piloting a 26 foot Penske truck through the city. This spring they have been out working with BfW almost every other weekend. We know you're not asking us WHY we chose to feature them, but rather WHY IT'S TAKEN US SO LONG!

Thank you George and Hellen !

Taking The LEED To Save The Environment and Change The World

What a difference a bike makes. One bike can change one life, and often times it doesn't stop there. Overseas, a bicycle is a ticket to work, school, or healthcare, but what we've seen at Bikes for the World is it changes lives in so many different ways. Really, one bike can change an entire village.

Courtesy BENN

For example these young children in Namibia are being fed through the Catholic AIDS Action soup kitchen. That soup kitchen is, in part, being funded with proceeds from the Omaruru BEC, a local Bicycle Empowerment Centre. These Centres are essentially remote bike shops set up by BfW partner Bicycling Empowerment Network (BEN).

BEN trains local Namibians in both bicycle mechanics and business so that they are able to run their own locally run bicycle shops. Often the shops are no more than a used shipping container, just like we pack our bikes into when we ship them overseas.

Shop owners then come to a centrally locally BEN facility to purchase bikes and parts at low cost to take back to their bike shops for neighboring villagers. Mechanics then make sure the bikes are kept in good working order. Many BEC owners turn around and put the money they make back into the community, such as feeding orphans through a community organization.

For the second year in a row, Bikes for the World has partnered with national retailer DICK'S Sporting Goods( DSG) to take part in their annual Trade-In Trade-Up sale. The sale, which took place in early May, encourages bike owners to bring in their old rides to upgrade to newer models and hopefully get them out riding more. The owners, in turn, receive money off a new bike at DICK'S.

Better yet, DICK'S turns around and donates all the bikes received through this promotion to Bikes for the World where they end up changing lives. Thousands of lives are made better through this one promotion alone. A true testament to the value of reuse.

David Johnston from DICK'S joined us

Last year DICK'S donated over 4,000 bikes to Bikes for the World. As late as earlier this year, we were still shipping some of those bikes to our international partners. Each one changing ONE life, ONE family, perhaps one COMMUNITY.

A few weeks ago we started receiving shipments from this year's sale. We are expecting over 5,000 bikes to come into our new Pentagon City warehouse by the middle of June. We were honored to have DICK'S Marketing Director, David Johnston drive down from Pittsburgh to check out our operations.

Thanks to Vornado, our generous landlord, we currently have TWO warehouses in Arlington, blocks away from the Metro yellow/blue lines. (no excuses for you to not come down to help pack a container!) Not only do we LOVE this location, but it is truly making this year's DSG shipments smooth, not to mention POSSIBLE. We have electric, a dock, and plenty of room to store bikes.

Vornado is committed to sustainability and green living. We are extremely proud to have them join us in this massive effort. According to their website,
Vornado is the single largest owner of LEED certified buildings in the Washington Metropolitan Region. They are an active member of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and committed to LEED certification in all new developments and in their existing buildings. As of 2012, Vornado/Charles E. Smith achieved LEED certification at 40 buildings, which total over 12.5 million square feet.

The partnership between Bikes for the World, DICK'S Sporting Goods, and indirectly, Vornado is making possible the delivery of over 5,000 bikes to about a dozen international partners in the next two months. This is over one third of our typical annual bike donations. It is making good use of a bicycle no longer used or under used, hopefully getting someone here out on a new bicycle, and helping someone overseas live a better life. Visit Bikes for the World to find out more or to find out how you can help!

High Five!

Bikes for the World not only supports cycling in distant, remote communities in Africa and Central America, but we also advocate for safer cycling conditions here in the DC area too. Many of our volunteers, board, and staff are avid cyclists. And we are proud to be participating in Greenfest DC this week!

It's pretty obvious we care about the environment...we are after all the nation's largest bicycle reuse program in the nation. We rescue bikes from garages, back yards, recycling facilities, police impound lots, and apartment bike rooms. We send most of these bikes to regions in the world where bikes are hard to come by and yet necessary transportation options.

Give us ten!

That's why when BfW recently received a donation for $11.65 we paid attention. That might not seem like a lot, but I'll get into that later. If you've ever donated a bike with Bikes for the World you probably know we typically ask for a $10 donation with every bike. This not only helps us meet our mission but also increases the quality of bikes we receive instead of just being a drop off point for rusty junk.

The truth is BfW makes it super easy for you to donate a bicycle by coming into your community and sponsoring hundreds of bike collections throughout the year. It saves you on gas and puts your unused bicycle to good use. But the cost of delivering a bike from donor to new owner that conveniently costs money. We figure each bicycle costs between $20-25 on average to have it safely arrive in the hands of an overseas beneficiary. Most of our donors generously add $10 or more with the donation of a bike.

Think about it...10 bucks isn't much. It used to buy you a tank of gas if you were born before 1980. Nowadays it's only a couple gallons. And if you consider how close we live to work and errands we could save that much by riding our bikes a couple times a week.

Carol, Harrison, Adam, Keith, Mark, and Daniel at Tysons

 And that's exactly what long time volunteer Harrison Schutzer did for his environmental class at Hobart College. His professor, Joel Helfrich, had the class not use a car for one week as an assignment. At first, Schutzer found himself walking to class and errands. Then he was able to borrow a bicycle and went further faster.

"The simple switch to a bike reminded me of my time working for Bikes for the World and how much of an impact a bike can really have on an individual,"  wrote Schutzer.

And his donation of $11.65, a calculation of what he saved by not driving for one week, reminded us how important even a small donation can be. If each one of our facebook followers donated just $5, we'd have enough to ship an entire container of bikes to a partner program overseas.

By the way, that donate button is right over there to the right...you can give us FIVE right now! Just check the Other box, tell us $5, and be sure to put Harrison Sent Us in the designation code so we know he inspired you too. But we'll be happy to take $10, $25, or even $100 :)

Night Riders

Carlos with Angela, Jose, and bike owner

We recently told you about one man's quest to bring cycling safety to the rural roads of Nicaragua. Carlos Ovalle approached BfW looking for a way to help poorer cyclists be seen at night in areas such as where we ship bikes. There is little to no bike culture in many of these areas and therefore often no safety measures in place to protect multi-road users that you tend to see in rural villages.

Here in the urban areas of DC there are many organizations such as the Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) who stand up for cyclists' rights and safety. Teaming up with DDOT in the fall WABA hands out blinky lights to cyclists on the street in their annual Got Lights event.

The Firefly Brigade in Manila did a similar event for the beneficiaries of our partner program Bikes for the Philippines. Although lights and reflectors are incredibly important in these remote, often extremely dark places, there is often an issue of power. Batteries can be expensive and hard to come by. Even if these lower income bike owners could afford rechargeable lights they often have no way of regenerating the energy.

Elephant Energy partners with BENN

Meet Elephant Energy. Elephant Energy is a non-profit organization out of Colorado whose mission is to bring affordable, sustainable energy solutions to developing communities. This summer they expanded with the help of our partner program Bicycling Empowerment Network (BEN) in Namibia by offering solar powered bike lights to beneficiaries in this program.

Ovalle brings reflective tape to Nicaragua

Another low cost solution to visibility is reflective tape. Wheel reflectors that often come with new bikes, as you can see in this photograph to the right, are sometimes lost, broken, or stolen by the time our beneficiaries receive and use our donated bikes.

This is why, when Ovalle approached us with his idea to install inexpensive, theft resistant reflective tape on bicycles, we were interested in learning more. How easy would it be to distribute the reflective tape? Would bikers be receptive to the idea? Would it make a difference? Is this an initiative we would be interested in funding?

Ovalle is currently in Nicaragua finding out some of these answers. Here is an excerpt from one of his latest emails:

     "We did a trial run tonight, two bikes at the Instituto Nacional Francisco Luis Espinosa, during night school. Tomorrow we'll go to a tobacco factory where at least 100 bikes await us. The reception was amazing, we had a small crowd around us and when we showed them the pics of the bikes, taken with flash to simulate car lights they were amazed. One thing that I see is that it'll be difficult to provide follow-up as these two had no phone or email and postal addresses in Nicaragua."

How'd He Do That

Volunteer Phil Ruth's Load in Shepherdstown WV

One question we get a lot is Do you pick up individual bikes? The short answer is: No. Our drivers would never be able to get 30-40 bikes packed into their pick ups collecting individual bikes, not to mention the time it would take to do so.

We make it easy and convenient for donors by partnering with over 100 community groups and over a dozen bike shops in the Metro DC area. This gives folks a multitude of options on where to donate a bike throughout the year. We wish we could pick up each and every bike but then we wouldn't have time to do what we do.

Not a very efficient way to transport bikes

And what we do is ship over a dozen 40' containers annually to our partner programs overseas. Thanks to the hard work of hundreds of volunteers helping us process bikes throughout the year we can typically pack over 500 bikes per container.

Doing the math you'll see Bikes for the World collects and ships over 10,000 bikes annually, making us the nation's largest bicycle reuse program.

 

BfW bikes at Lorton

 

Over the year, in addition to bike shops and collections, we also regularly pick up bikes from universities, police departments, recycle centers, and condo and apartment buildings.

If you work at one of these areas or managed a collection for Bikes for the World you have probably met Nick. Nick Colombo is our Operations Manager and does a lot of the bike pick ups. We also have a small handful of dedicated volunteers who use their vehicles in ways they probably weren't meant to be used in order to deliver bikes to one of our storage areas. You can pick them out by the grease marks on the ceiling and the unmistakable odor of WD40 emanating from their cars.


Nick and Chris of Spokes Etc. Loading bikes

The word around the water bottle (we don't sit still long enough to have water cooler chats) is Nick is a bike stacker extraordinaire. In the bike collecting community Nick is a bit of a celebrity. A quick scan of his facebook page and you might find a friendly competition between similar organizations like Working Bikes, boasting who got more bikes in their truck.

"Interesting. You're using the "shuffle the top layer in" method instead of the "stack them on top" method. I may have to revisit this." said one Working Bikes employee.

Nick swears by his method. 15 upside down, 15 on top, and then he throws more flat on top of that. His personal best? Somewhere between 43-48 bikes, now that he added a bike rack to the back. Yes, this is a regular sized pick up truck NO TRAILER.

"I've never lost a bike," brags Colombo.

Nick with the Blue Flame

Unfortunately, he has lost a truck. It's true. The Blue Flame petered out on him. He used to stack about 35 bikes in that little truck of his and "you had to floor it to get up a hill".

His new truck is a little bigger. And he outfitted it with extra springs and wider tires to give him 500lbs extra towing capacity.

What it's missing is Flames. And he's taking requests on colors if you want to weigh in. nick@bikesfortheworld.org



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!

It Not Only Takes a Village But Also Changes One

Beneficiaries mentor each other

To single out one individual beneficiary of the Bikes for the Philippines program would be missing the bigger picture of how this program is changing not just one life but an entire community. This project may have been born from the idea of one man but its success is due in large part because of the passion of many. And it’s not just about giving bikes to students to get to school but rather creating hopes and dreams where there once were none.

Typical household of beneficiary

Bikes for Education, the Baclayon branch of BfP, was created quite simply to keep kids in school. Great care was taken to identify students who lived 3km or more from their schools and were in danger of dropping out. In addition to these students, previous students who had already dropped out were approached and offered the use of a donated bicycle for reenrolling in school.

Many families are grateful to Bikes for the Philippines and Bikes for the World for loaning their children bikes to get to and from school. The parents are thankful to have their kids home more to help with household chores. The teachers are seeing improvements in test scores by having the students arrive on time to class.

Girls learning how to change a flat tire

Bikes for Education is now part of the curriculum in the school system. Students are required, as part of the program, to learn basic bike maintenance including cleaning the bike and changing a flat tire. They are also taught bike safety and handling and must pass a written exam before receiving the bike.

Because the program was implemented in waves starting with the adult education program and working its way down through the grade system, older students were given the opportunity to mentor the younger students teaching them valuable lessons in teamwork and leadership.

Although students must sign a contract stating that the bikes may only be used to get to and from school, beneficiaries often take part in community rides on the weekends. This bonding experience allows older students to continue mentoring the younger students in bike handling and maintenance as is necessary.

Bol-anon Cyclists, a local bike club of adult cyclists, also often participates in these community rides with the students. The students gain confidence not only in their riding but also in life as they bond with this group of cyclists.

Beneficiaries taking donated shoes to orphange

Some of the Community rides are just outings in and among the rural roads of their small community of Baclayon. Others serve a bigger purpose. Bike beneficiaries have delivered food, donated TOMS shoes, and even donated kiddie bikes from BfP to the local orphanage.

The donation of these bikes and the meticulous implementation of this program have brought a new world to these students. So many doors have been opened, friendships made, and networks established.

Beneficiaries take part in Earth Hour

Another event the beneficiaries took part in last March was Earth Hour in the Philippines. Hundreds of millions of people, businesses, and governments globally unite each year to support the biggest environmental event known as Earth Hour.

The Philippines has earned bragging rights for being the biggest participant in this event four years running.  A record-breaking 1671 Filipino towns, cities, provinces, and municipalities turned off their lights for 60 minutes.

Kids in the Bikes for Education program are learning more in school, getting lessons in life, and becoming more aware of global issues around them thanks to BfP. 

Beneficiaries visit City Hall

Even the local Government is starting to get involved. With the influx of bikes to the barangay and puroks (like our cities and towns), the Local Government Unit (LGU) has started introducing bike laws and regulations to help keep everyone safe.

Alongside the Bol-anon Cyclists and BfP Director Joel Uichico and school officials, the bike beneficiaries rode to City Hall and sat in on the Bike Ordinance meeting. This is truly a community effort at work.

Beneficiaries at Rock111

As students finish school and earn their degrees, they are also awarded the bicycle that got them to that goal to use however they wish. Some graduates will go onto college but more will enter the workplace. The bicycle will continue to be of great benefit getting them to and from work just as it had to and from school.

Through the generosity and connections of BfP some graduates have already received career training doing such things as baking, hospitality, food preparation, and farming. Bike beneficiaries have been placed in these internship type programs upon completion of high school due to their involvement with Bikes for the Philippines.

Where There Is A Wheel, There IS A Way

The first BfP beneficiaries graduate!

Congratulations to the Fourth Year Students of Baclayon National High School. As students here in DC are wrapping things up for the summer, the first graduates from the Bikes for the Philippines program are already in work training programs.

The Philippine Navy helps deliver bikes

In 2011, Bikes for the World donated 556 used bicycles collected in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States, to the Bikes for Education program of Bikes for the Philippines (BfP), a newly formed effort in the community of Baclayon, on the Filipino island of Bohol. The bikes were provided to enhance and preserve access to education for young people from low-income communities and living at a distance from school, who were at risk of dropping out—or who may have already abandoned school.

Back in 2004, Joel Uichico, a local businessman, noticed the children of Baclayon walking barefoot along rocky terrain just to get to school. He found that some of these children were walking up to 5km one way and some were dropping out of school because of the hardship this long trek was putting on the family. Something had to be done.

Because of the roads, cost of public transportation, and even the weather, he knew the only solution to this problem was getting these kids bicycles. He just wasn't sure how to go about doing that. He contacted his cousin Jo Grant located in the United States for help. Grant connected Joel with Bikes for the World and a new partnership was born.

Courtesy Lucy Neher

Here in the States we don't often think about the importance a bicycle has on a family. We often use them for recreation rather than transportation or work. Overseas a bicycle creates a means of life and often increases the amount of money coming into a household.

This past year in Takoma Park, however, Lucy Neher the Safe Routes to School Coordinator for the City of Takoma Park brought a bigger awareness to riding a bike to school. This first ever Bike to School Day brought 130 students and 30 parents out on their bikes May 9th. But think if you HAD to do this EVERY day monsoon or shine!

Joel Uichico BfP Director rides home with the kids

That's exactly what the kids of Baclayon have to do. The roads are steep, muddy, rocky, and often wet. In some cases students were walking an hour or more in order to get to school. They are often late and unable to enter the classrooms until the afternoon session begins. They were missing valuable lessons, tired, and distracted in the classroom.

Once the Bikes for Education program started teachers, principals, and guidance counselors saw an immediate shift in performance. Students were on time and eager to come to school.

BfW Outreach Coordinator Yvette Hess

I rode the same roads these kids ride every day. They are no joke! For those of you in the DC area who mountain bike, some of these routes to school compare with the trails at Gambrill in Frederick. I was there in February, which is the 'dry' season and it rained every night. Every day we got up and rode muddy, mucky roads.

The kids all receive helmets and training, both book and hands on. There were times I questioned whether bikes were really better than walking on some of these roads. But then we would hit a two yard wide muck puddle and I knew I wouldn't want to walk through that in shoes or flip flops.

 Odoni Pestelos with Bicycle Escape water bottle

But the kids were amazing on their bikes. I was very impressed with their handling skills and the way they read and negotiated the rocks. Some of the newer riders walked the steep, rocky parts.

One thing I did notice was the need for gear. Yes, we will take your unwanted shorts and jerseys and see that they are delivered to our partners overseas. Tires, brakes, cables...these were all put under immense stress in these conditions and the kids are going to need replacement parts to keep these bikes running. We try to send parts along with the shipments, but we need funds to do this. You can donate to this specific program HERE or by indicating it under the Designation Code on our website donation form.

Even water bottles. Every now and again a bottle is left on a bike and sent overseas.  I was tickled when I was lost, (yes, I was separated from the group and wandering around with just a few guys in the remote mountains of Bohol) looked up, and saw this guy drinking out of a local (to me) water bottle! I was thrilled to see Ako Ang Simula (a Philippine TV show) with host Karen Davila, sponsor a drive to raise money to get all these kids water bottles.

Take a look at the program shown on ABS-CBN. Karen Davila introduces us to the program, the kids, and the revolution that is happening thanks to the bikes donated by Bikes for the World.

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!