Prosper: Pass It On

Prosper Dzandu traded his weaving loom for a truing stand six years ago and he's been riding success ever since.

Originally chosen for a project with the UK bike project Re~Cycle, Prosper retrained as a bike mechanic after years of working as a kente weaver. As he worked his way around a bicycle, Prosper first honed his new skill as a bike mechanic preparing donated bikes for re-use in Ghana.

He eventually joined Village Bicycle Project (VBP) and became a trainer. He would travel along with the VBP team to remote areas in northern Ghana where they would introduce donated bikes into small rural villages. Prosper helped train new bike owners in basic maintenance skills and taught some participants how to ride a bike for the first time.

Prosper eventually started his own  permanent workshop called No Rush In Life. Prosper trains apprentices and shares his love and knowledge of bikes with these employees. His bike business helps provide income to his employees and their families as well as his own wife and their five children.

The shop, seen here, has been upgraded to a more secure metal structure. Previously Prosper had been operating out of a wooden shack that was insecure. To protect his business, Prosper had to sleep at the shop. He can now leave his workshop with peace of mind and return home to his family every night.

 Kente Weaver Courtesy Marie McC

Prosper couldn't have been given a better name. After a few short years he left his weaving position behind and excelled in the bike field. As a trained kente weaver, Prosper was good with his hands and had a meticulous eye for detail. Skills he would bring to his bike stand and eventually his workshop.

Kente cloth is a highly recognizable textile sometimes associated with royalty. The designs are quite intricate and often convey a message. Weavers work long hours sitting at a loom in an uncomfortable position. Weavers move fabric quickly with their fingers and even their toes when completing a kente cloth.

After becoming his own boss, Prosper found his new career as a bike mechanic liberating and rewarding. He is a great communicator and his enthusiasm to share his craft is evident in every workshop he runs with VBP. By training apprentices in his own shop he is helping to boost local economy while freeing himself up to continue working with VBP.

Just last month Prosper received his first ever container of bikes directly from Re~Cycle. He will sort these bikes, and pull out the ones suited for his workshops to help train new riders and mechanics through this work.

Way to go Prosper!

Thumbs Up

This pretty much says it all: thumbs up! Bikes for the World put an end to April with a deluge of bikes. The weekend of April 30-May 1 was the best weekend of the season so far when our warehouse saw an influx of nearly 700 bikes.

It's no coincidence that the collection weekend began at Otterbein United Methodist Church. This faith-full BfW partner has been with us since the beginning and will likely see their 3,000th bike donated next season. This year brought in a near record 270 bikes, their biggest collection since 2009 when they packed up 400 in one day! Even though we had our biggest truck there, they still overflowed it causing us to make two trips just to get all the bikes into the warehouse.

Add to the mix three brand new partner schools and you have a recipe for a busy, busy weekend. Gunpowder Elementary in Baltimore County, Chesterbrook Elementary in McLean, and Travilah Elementary out in North Potomac all joined forces to help collect 350 bikes between these green focused schools.

Each school set out with the goal of collecting 50 bikes, a minimum we ask our managers to strive for when undertaking a collection. This motivates the team, but also rattles a little nerves. It's a bit like throwing a party and worrying if anyone will show up.

But they did show up, and they brought bikes! Even out at Travilah Elementary who combined the bike collection alongside Travilah Moves a school-wide activity day that happened to fall on a very soggy Sunday morning. But the clouds parted and the bikes rolled in- for four hours.

Teacher/organizer Carol Knoblach was thrilled with the outcome. She knew they had a very generous community and filling our truck with bikes was proof. Everyone stopped by to peek in our Penske just to see how many lives would be improved through their effort.

Kids brought their old bikes to donate after a presentation during lunch where Outreach Coordinator Yvette Hess shared stories from beneficiaries, many kids who needed bikes to get to school. "I wanted to give my old bike to another kid who really needs it and can't afford to buy a new one," said one very young donor.

One young boy who doesn't even go to Travilah saw the sign out front to donate bikes today as his family was driving by. He told his mom he wanted to go home and get his bike to bring it back, so they did!

Another family pulled out a couple small bikes and the owners handed them over to the collection. Yvette put them to work and had them prep the bikes to be donated overseas. They were super excited to learn a little about pedal wrenches and how their bikes were going to help kids in El Salvador. "Cool!"

Back in Virginia, 6th graders at Chesterbrook Elementary were also learning how to prep bikes. During their in-school presentation a few weeks ago, the kids had so many questions about the program and how the bikes were changing lives we didn't even have a chance to practice on the bikes.

"Whenever I go into the classroom I'm often impressed by the thoughtful questions the students ask me," said Yvette. "They are genuinely interested in the program and excited to learn how they can help improve lives around the world."

"Working at the Elementary School level is one of the most rewarding parts of my job," continued Yvette. "Reaching these kids early and showing them the importance of recycling and helping others is something I hope they carry with them the rest of their lives. Finding those teachers who share this passion is really what makes this project a huge success.

"Working on the bikes is something kids of all ages can do and typically enjoy. It's good to get them working with tools and using their hands, and their heads. Learning about leverage by removing a rusty pedal is much better than reading about it in a book.

"Seeing bikes roll in hour after hour until they are spilling out of our truck really shows them the difference they can make. By partnering with BfW we can help bring their community effort into a grander scale and connect them to remote villages and small schools around the world." Bikes collected this past weekend will be loaded this week and shipped out to partners in El Salvador and Africa.

Teachers who bring this activity into their classrooms and embrace it school-wide can really engage students of all ages and creativity levels. This year we saw posters hanging in the schools made by some of the younger students in the school. Gunpowder advertised throughout the school and on social media by creating videos with the students asking for bike donations.

At the high school level, many teachers step aside and let the students drive the entire event. Environment-based clubs, SGA, Honor Society... will often take on a leadership role and organize and drive the collection effort.

"There really is something for everyone in this project and we at Bikes for the World are proud to be flexible to accommodate whatever creative idea these kids throw our way."

Featured Volunteer: Norm Birzer

Last year about this time Bikes for the World recognized Richard Foot for his tireless effort collecting bikes and leading the charge with the Rotary Club of Carroll Creek. But it takes a village to collect and deliver over 500 bikes in one event.

This month we are recognizing another Rotarian working just as hard to make that Frederick collection roll, Norm Birzer. And it's hard to get a photo of this guy head on because it's rare that he's standing still long enough!

Norm serves on the Rotary Club of Carroll Creek's Bikes for the World Committee, which last month earned the distinction of collecting 539 bicycles in the past year- the largest collection in the Rotary Club's eleven-year partnership with BfW.

 Norm was instrumental in not just reaching the 2016 Club goal, but in helping to shatter all previous Rotarian efforts. Norm was the one who suggested the motivational "A Bike-A-Day" theme that drove the Rotary Club throughout the year.

In order to meet that goal, the Rotary Club of Carroll Creek partnered up with several key partners to help collect bikes all year.

Norm is seen here at Reliable Recycling where he regularly picked up bikes and transported them to a nearby dairy barn for storage. It's unusual when Norm's blue van is not packed with used bicycles and bicycle accessories he has picked up at various locations, including north of the Mason-Dixon Line in PA.

The dairy barn serves as a temporary warehouse for the bikes picked up in Frederick and beyond from April to April. This group regularly made available these donated, stored bikes, whenever BfW partners overseas needed bikes throughout the winter. Norm often prepped bikes on site before loading them into his van so they were essentially ready to ship when they arrived at the barn.

On several occasions Norm joined other Rotarians at the barn to help load those bikes onto the BfW truck for transport back to our central warehouse in Arlington. They were then loaded and donated around the world. This made our operation possible throughout the winter during our slower collection period.

Norm also enlisted the the help of grandson Thomas Grenier from time to time when he was out picking up bikes. Thomas, who is working toward his Eagle Award, ended up choosing BfW for his Eagle Project, which he managed alongside the Rotary Club of Carroll Creek's annual bike collection.

Thomas ended up adding another 125 bikes through his own collection at the satellite New Market location held in the afternoon on the same day. Norm helped oversee this project and coordinate the transportation of many of those bikes which helped us cover a very busy weekend. BfW collected nearly enough bikes that weekend to fill two containers to be donated to our global partners.

Even before the sun set on that April 9th, both Dick and Norm were already plotting to beat their newly set record, barely seven hours old.

2,245 Bikes Donated

Those dedicated Rotarians are at it again! Last year under the direction of Richard Foot the Rotary Club of Carroll Creek collected 279 bikes during their annual April bike collection event in Frederick.

On April 12, 2015 Dick Foot declared, this year we intend to collect one bike a day until the next collection And that's just what they set out to do.

By March they already had nearly 300 bikes, many of which Bikes for the World had picked up early to ship out to our partners in need of bikes. At that time, we upped the challenge for the Rotary Club of Carroll Creek to collect enough bikes to fill a shipping container.

And on April 9, 2016, the Rotary Club of Carroll Creek took in their final bike of the 2016 collection challenge event. Shattering all previous collection years, the Rotarians collected, prepped, and loaded 539 bikes this year. And yes, that WILL fill a container.

This also brings their eleven year total to 2,245 bikes collected and donated to Bikes for the World.

Richard Foot devised this motivational challenge of a "bike-a-day" to not only collect more bikes this year than last, but to also stress Bikes for the World's own key phrase, Changing Lives One Bike at a Time. One bike can really make a difference. One single bike helps up to four people, from the mechanic overseas who earns a living fixing bikes, to the family who relies on it for work or errands, or the student who uses it to get to school. And one bike a day here at home, turned into an entire shipment of bikes.

During this year's event at Triangle Motors, Richard met one of his youngest donors to date. Six-year old Alexis Nicholas received a new bike this past Christmas and she wanted to make sure another little girl could enjoy her old bike. So she brought it to the collection, "you can give it to someone who doesn't have a bike and can't afford one," she said.

In order to meet this bike-a-day goal, Richard rallied the troops. He called on quite a few members of the community who stepped up and helped collect bikes, store bikes, and also prep them for shipping. Hood Rotaract Club has been helping with this collection for years. Shane Sellers of Frederick Community College has also been delivering bikes to this collection for as long as we can remember.

New this year: believing that it is almost criminal to not recycle a bicycle, the Rotary Club established partnerships with the Brunswick and Thurmont Police Departments. Lost and stolen bicycles that were not reclaimed were transferred throughout the year to the Rotary Club who stored them in a vacant dairy barn.

"It's such a simple concept, but it has such an impact," said Richard. For many of us here a bicycle is seen more as a toy or recreational device. For many of our beneficiaries it's an important tool to a better life.

As an added bonus, the Rotary Club of Carroll Creek even added a satellite operation. Thomas Greiner chose Bikes for the World for his Eagle Scout Project and collected bikes in New Market that were also folded into this larger effort. It's this effort that put them over the top and enabled them to meet that added goal of filling an entire container.

A job well done by all.

Featured Volunteer: Stone Ridge Does It Again

This month we recognize the efforts of Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart (again). This is the second time Bikes for the World is recognizing this group, but we feel it is beyond earned. Stone Ridge is guided by five Sacred Heart Goals, one of which is a “social awareness which impels to action.” The Stone Ridge Social Action group is comprised of juniors and seniors who go out into the community twice a month to make a difference. Bikes for the World has been a proud beneficiary of this effort through five graduating classes.

This year's crew is comprised of: Suzanne Antoniou '16, Erin Barry '17, CC Cozza '16, Anneliese Goetz '16, Chloe Lacombe '17, Julianna Long '16, Meagan Rock '16, and Emma Topercer '17.

This impactful partnership began in 2011 with two students who joined us at our warehouse in Rockville to help load and prep bikes for donation around the world. Now, the 2016/17 graduating crew has swelled to eight women who join us in Arlington. Here, in addition to assisting with loading, they also perform the more intricate task of stripping parts off marginal bikes to include in those shipments.

The even bigger impact we’ve seen from their work locally, however, is the impression they leave on other volunteers. Just in the last year, Bikes for the World has seen growth in the number of young girls who have joined our volunteer ranks to help us use tools to prepare bikes for donation around the world. Seeing a strong group of young women in the back of our warehouse using tools and getting grease under their fingernails has empowered other girls to do the same. Picking up a wrench, hammer, or a huge set of bolt cutters to remove a rusty chain typically begins and ends with the smile of a young girl not accustomed to using such tools. The Stone Ridge Social Action program has not only brought capable young women from Stone Ridge into our warehouse, but it continues to inspire other female-centric groups to come get their hands dirty with us too.

 "I’m continuously impressed by the initiative that the students take to teach one another and lead by example. I’m convinced that experiential learning is imperative for youth to gain not just passive knowledge, but hands-on skills which can be replicated in many fields. Watching the older students take it upon themselves to walk the younger students through the ins-and-outs of the Bikes for the World warehouse and our activities is inspiring. I’m also happy to see young women excited about working with their hands and learning their way around a workbench.”
–BfW Operations Manager Taylor Jones

“Absorbing lots of information is nothing new for students; however, these students distinguish themselves with the calm focus with which they analyze the unique challenges every bike part presents. They methodically select relevant tools and use them to coax brakes, handlebars, crank sets, wheels, etc. off frames destined for the scrap yard.” -Stone Ridge teacher Ken Woodard.

Back in April, the 2015/16 Stone Ridge crew loaded a container of bikes for our partner in the Philippines. The entire shipment, from collectingbikes, repurposing parts, and loading the container was all accomplished by students in the DC area. Those bikes are about to be distributed in half a dozen schools on several Philippine islands. The bikes will help students at risk of dropping out stay in school and graduate.

Girls there are also learning to use wrenches and navigate greasy chains. Each student beneficiary is required to adjust brakes and know how to repair a flat tire. These are skills we hope to instill in all our volunteers at home as well. Knowing how to change a flat tire or tighten brakes is a valuable skill to take on the road as a cyclist. Helping young girls become familiar with bikes and the tools necessary to maintain a safe ride is an important by-product of our volunteer work. Working in pairs, as we see many Stone Ridge girls doing in our workshop, or learning the value of leveraging a tool properly, is like opening a door to success to many of our young girls in the warehouse.

“I’ve seen many girls tentative at first to even pick up a tool larger than they’ve ever held, but within minutes they are often teaching their parents and peers the best way to remove a rusty pedal. The story of Stone Ridge and their efforts to help change lives around the world is inspiring to schools, scout troops, families, and even individual volunteers. Seeing the effect of one simple act and the ripples that accompany it is what makes this organization so great. It’s as simple and powerful as a bicycle.” –BfW Outreach Coordinator Yvette Hess

Honoring the Life and Love of James McMullen

The Regional Lead School for the Arts (RLSAA) is living up to its name in the Philippines. This is one of the first high schools introduced into the education system in the Philippines. Previously, schools only went to grade 10 with students graduating at age 15 or 16. As expanded high schools are introduced, students now have the opportunity to complete two more years of high school and graduate at age 18.

Second group of bike beneficiaries at RSLAA

Bikes for the Philippines began a pilot project at RLSAA last year. They approached half a dozen "Out of School Youth" who had originally graduated from the old school system. In an effort to bring them back to school to finish those added two years of high school, they offered them a bicycle to use to commute to class.

With the container Bikes for the World shipped last year, BfP was able to expand the number of beneficiaries at RLSAA.

Bike beneficiaries use bikes to complete art assignments

The addition of RLSAA to the Bikes for the Education program has brought increased media attention to this effort to bring bikes to students and the importance of continued education throughout the country. Because Filipinos cannot legally work until they are 18, the added two years of high school keeps them engaged and invested in their education until they can begin careers after graduation.

This school's proximity to Manila has brought great media attention to this effort, generating excitement and enthusiasm in the program. Because this is an election year in the Philippines, this focus on education is coming at an important time.

Having beneficiaries close to the BfP warehouse also brings added, and much welcome, help to the process of bringing in donated bikes from the United States and getting them ready for use by students.

Diego is a bike beneficiary at RSLAA

Diego is a student at RLSAA and a bike beneficiary. He is 17 and on target to graduate in 2017. Diego knows the importance of a good education, both parents are college graduates.

 He is well rooted in the arts. His mother is a pre-school teacher and also teaches music. His dad is a puppeteer who makes his own puppets. Diego hopes to follow his parents' footsteps and his love of the arts by studying graphic arts in school. He hopes to open his own business after graduation.

Diego uses his bike to get to and from school and also to travel to an off site studio to continue his studies. He is also able to help look after his younger brother now that he can travel faster between assignments.

James McMullen served in the Peace Corps in the Philippines

Bikes for the World named the 2015 container donated to Bikes for the Philippines arriving in July in honor of the late James McMullen who passed away in May 2015. McMullen was an avid cyclist and popular teacher in DC. He also served in the Peace Corps in the Philippines in the 70s.

His widow Betty Scott chose Bikes for the World, specifically our education project in the Philippines, as the honorary beneficiary of donations honoring her husband's life and passion.

Because of Scott's background as a music educator and her current role as the Director of Strathmore's Artist in Residence program, BfP chose to honor this generous gift in part through their efforts at RSLAA, a school focused on the arts. McMullen was also a talented photographer who brought that love into his school and to his students through a photography club that he oversaw while teaching at McKinley Tech.

Donations received in memory of James McMullen will help fund two additional shipments of bikes to our Bikes for Education Project over the next year. Each container will hold over 500 bikes and be directed to help students attend school in the Philippines.

How Do They Do That?!

Students from RLSAA unload container from BfW

In July of 2015, Bikes for the World shipped its third container of bikes to our education project with Bikes for the Philippines. This brought our total number of bikes donated to the program to 1,500. It also allowed Bikes for the Philippines to expand their effort into several new schools.

One of those new schools was the Regional Lead School for the Arts in Angono Rizal (RLSAA).  A pilot effort began early last year with seven students who all graduated last May, just when our container set sail for the Philippines.

After the container arrived in Luzon and cleared customs, our bikes were transported to the warehouse in Manila where volunteers would soon start refurbishing them to introduce into the Bikes for Education project.  Because RLSAA is located nearby, students met the truck and helped unload the bikes from Virginia USA.

Operating a bike program in a country made up of thousands of tiny islands is no small feat. If only we could clone Executive Director Joel Uichico! How many times have we said that same thing here at home regarding our own Executive Director Keith Oberg!?!

Cristy, Elvie, and Eunice

BfP is doing the next best thing. As they expand and add schools on all three main island groups, Luzon, Visayas, and soon Mindanao, Joel relies on the help from dedicated volunteers and passionate teachers and principals within the schools themselves to keep this program going.

Elvie Jabonilla (seen here between two beneficiaries who have graduated and gone on to college) is the principal at Fatima National High School in Bohol. She helped establish our first school project in Baclayon National High School, also in Bohol, in 2011, before moving on to Fatima where she is now overseeing the Bikes for Education project there.

Through these enthusiastic educators who are on the ground and working daily with students, Bikes for the Philippines is able to operate and serve hundreds of students over thousands of miles.

Volunteers in Manila warehouse

Volunteers who teach, mentor, and ride with students are also a critical part of keeping this program so successful. These mentors live in the same towns as the students while some also travel to other islands to participate in community rides with the kids.

The hub of activity remains in Manila and one reason for that is the large group of volunteers available there to help prepare the bikes for the program. Once the bikes are ready BfP then faces the challenge of transporting the bikes to the remote schools on other islands. Another network of volunteers helps make that transport possible.

Carlton Styron

Visits to the schools throughout the year are important to ensure the bikes are still working properly and the kids are staying safe on the roads. Carlton Styron (seen here to the right) has visited Bohol many times to help wrench bikes and train students in maintenance and care of their bikes.

Many schools are set up so that the older students are trained first so they can help mentor the younger ones coming up through the program. Graduating beneficiaries have also helped wrench bikes and initiate new schools into the program.

Bikes for the Philippines has identified over a dozen schools throughout the country and over 1,000 students who will be receiving bikes through the program this year. The program is designed to help keep kids enrolled in school until graduation and relies on fundraising in the United States to pay for the shipping container costs. Read more about a generous donation last year that is helping deliver the necessary bikes to these students.