Success Stories: Frankie Hinds Barbados

FRANKIE HINDS

Frankie Hinds—the Pinelands Creative Workshop lead bike mechanic—was a latecomer to the Pinelands bike project, but it would appear that he was destined for it from early childhood.  A resident since age 6 of Pinelands, a low-income area in Barbados, Frankie took early to bicycles, inspired by a cycling uncle.  From his uncle, Frankie got his first bike at age 11--a hand-me-down Raleigh—and rode it constantly.

In a short time, his uncle taught him some basic skills, working on derailleurs and shifters, and then—noticing some precocious talent—challenged him to true his road bike wheels.  “I told him he’s crazy,” said Frankie, but his uncle started at the beginning, teaching him “how to spoke it”, constructing a wheel from scratch.  In so doing, Frankie absorbed the underlying numeric logic of spoke interaction.  After all, “it’s a question of numbers.” 

Soon Frankie was truing wheels for friends in the Pinelands area.  He recalls his early days, working with bikes that were so oxidized that when truing a wheel using his thumb as a gauge, the rust on the rim would wear down his thumbnail.

Bikes for the World bikes, at least, don’t put his thumbnails to the test on a daily basis.  However, they do often require some work.  To satisfy local tastes, he modifies “drop bar” road bikes, substituting straight handlebars and new brake assemblies.  Although the conditions under which Frankie labors are not always the best, he generally converts each bike in the space of 15 or 20 minutes.  His small workspace is generally crowded with bikes, and lacking a truing stand or work stand with clamp, he must hang a bike by its seat on a strap from the ceiling.  Unsteady, but functional, permitting him to stand and use both hands. 

Frankie did not come straight from the schoolyard to the bike shop, however.  On leaving school, Frankie became interested in Rastafarianism and organic foods, selling natural fruit juices as a micro business.  However, the competition for space in his mother’s kitchen limited his volume and ability to earn a living—a recipe for frustration.  Even with a small loan from the Pinelands micro-credit program, the business simply could not grow. 

In early 2001, with the growth of the Pinelands bike project, an opportunity came for him to work in the shop.  Frankie began truing wheels at Pinelands on a part-time basis, and when the regular mechanic resigned to take a job outside the cycling profession, Frankie stepped up and took his place.

Not only did Frankie have a natural mechanical talent, but he found helping others fulfilling.  There was “always a joy to it.”  A neighbor or a customer would bring a bike in bad shape, Frankie would work on it, and “when it leaves, you got it riding perfect.”

Frankie brings this philosophy to his own bike, converting an old Schwinn one-speed cruiser into a sturdy six-speed mountain bike, with a large basket able to carry his tools to and from work.  

With four 40’ container shipments and approximately 1700 bikes annually, Frankie is able to handle the bike assembly and reconditioning needs of the project with the part-time mechanic assistance of his friend Clyne Alleyne.  On an informal basis, customers and young people from the neighborhood hang around and clean bikes.  (Pinelands once tried to start a training program, but the first student came one day, and failed to come back the next.  Frankie laments that bike repair service, in this throw-away society, is “a dying trade”.)

While working with bikes and helping customers ride them is personally fulfilling and pays a modest salary, Frankie has other things that are important to him.  He and his girl friend have just built the shell of their new home and, once they install electricity, they plan to dedicate Sundays to cooking and selling soy-based food products, reflecting their personal values, their enjoyment of each other’s company, and—hopefully—to supplement their family income.  A steady job at Pinelands frees Frankie to experiment and take risks. 

Success Stories: Superación Femenina

  Superación Femenina

In 2003, 23 women in Cuatro Bocas, a community in northern Costa Rica, founded Superación Femenina (“Female Advancement”).  They pooled their capital—a total of 50,000 colones, or $98—and began awarding micro-loans to finance income-generating activities of the members. 

The women learned about Bikes for the World partner FINCA Costa Rica.  In December 2005, Superación Femenina  bought 20 bikes, reconditioned them and sold them in Cuatro Bocas, making a net profit of 85,000 colones, or $67.  In April 2006, the group purchased 23 bikes and cleared 161,000 colones ($316).  Their profit increased because, based on feedback from FINCA Costa Rica as well as its efforts to screen out mediocre quality, Bikes for the World’s later shipment had more appropriate and higher-quality bikes.

The bike profits were plowed back into Superación Feminina’s investments, increasing their portfolio of micro-loans, and their membership.  In addition, the leader of the group reports these further benefits:

• Group cohesion has been created through working together to recondition and sell the bikes;
• All the Enterprise members have purchased bicycles;
• Bicycles have become the principal means of transport for community members to go to the town of Upala, 10 kms from Cuatro Bocas; and
• Motivated by example, five other FINCA-sponsored groups (some all female and some mixed gender) have acquired 109 bicycles to recondition and sell

Success Stories: Don Marco Costa Rica

DON MARCO

Marco Vinicio sells ice cream and frituras—fried snacks—in the Costa Rican capital, San José.  For years, “don Marco,” as he is known, traveled on foot from construction sites to offices to small shopping malls in a small section of the city.  On any day, he could cover only a few sites and rarely sold more than a large bag of fried items and a few ice pops, generating the barest living for his wife and seven children.

Bikes for the World partner, the Fundación Integral Campesina deCosta Rica, a non-profit micro-credit program, sold Marco a reconditioned bicycle for about $10, which he could pay in weekly installments over one month.  Don Marco commented that never in his life did he think he would be able to buy such a good-quality bicycle at such a low cost, and on installment payments.  The investment paid off immediately: able to reach many more sites every day, don Marco’s sales increased so dramatically that he paid off the bike in only two weeks.  The last we heard, don Marco was considering purchasing another bicycle—as a Christmas present for his youngest daughter.

Eagle Scout Leaders

While most of BfW was tucked away in the DC Convention Center this past weekend enjoying Greenfest, at least one local collection was still in full swing. Alex Tatem chose BfW as his Eagle scout leadership project and the location was his place of employment BfW partner, City Bikes in Chevy Chase. 

Alex Tatem: "My position is sales which I love because I am on the front line sharing my passion of riding with a huge range of different types of bikers. There is nothing better than helping someone find their perfect bike and getting them out on the roads…. or trails."

Courtesy Alex Tatem

This was a three-way partnership that proved to be a huge success with Alex netting about 90 bikes. Unlike most scouts, Alex even orchestrated the delivery of the bikes to BfW's storage site at King Farm in Rockville.

Alex Tatem: "The great part about the collection was before it even started I had about 25 bikes. This was very useful because right when the volunteers arrived they could start working. Having my volunteers constantly busy really moved the collection on smoothly and helped when all the other bikes started to flow in a lot faster. I had the trailers and vans open in the parking lot. I had people constantly loading the vans and trailers the whole time and had someone at the trailers approving the bikes before they were put in."

We at BfW couldn't ask for anything more! Every weekend BfW partners with community organizations from schools, faith groups, government organizations, bikes shops...We have literally hundreds of partners throughout the year who make our collections a huge success.

Nick Bielamowicz troop 1916 Eagle project

One we are particularly proud of is Eagle scouts. The term 'Eagle scout' is most synonymous with 'leadership' and BfW is a perfect choice for an Eagle scout project.Over the last eight years BfW has helped over 60 scouts earn the distinction of Eagle scout.

What we demand at Bikes for the World in managing a collection perfectly matches the requirements laid out in the Eagle Scout service project workbook. Some of those criteria are managing a dynamic, unpredictable public event, publicity, and training and overseeing a volunteer workforce, Keith Oberg Director Bikes for the World.

Chris Richards Eagle project troop 167

BfW worked with Chris Richards in 2005 with his Eagle scout project. Chris collected 63 bikes at the REI in Baileys Crossroads. Those bikes were included in a one time shipment to Haiti. Richards went on to Dickinson College and is now the Digital Marketing Strategist for Fanpage Toolkit.

Chris Richards, Eagle scout and former BfW collection manager: "The collection was a great project because it put me in a position to coordinate and lead a very hands on event. I remember feeling overwhelmed by some of the planning at the time, but in reality, it was great preparation for the amount of planning some work required in college and beyond in the work force. Additionally, it sparked my interest in efforts to behave in a more sustainable manner. Eventually, during school at Dickinson College, I became very involved in their campus sustainability programs, helping to educate the student body on what the school was doing to be "greener." Looking back, the time coordinating work with Bikes for the World probably implanted that desire in me to see things put to good use through recycling and reusing."

Thomas Tribble troop 1983

 BfW most recently worked with Senthil Kannan and Thomas Tribble both of troop 1983, Nick Bielamowicz troop 1916, and Alex Tatum troop 255. Between the four scouts, the young men collected 335 bikes that will be sent overseas and change many lives.

All the scouts agreed that it was a rewarding service project and had fun completing it. Senthil tells BfW that it was pretty easy (see the video below).

More from Richards:
"...many Eagle projects seem to emphasize several days of physical work, this one was unique in that I was able to complete much of the work on that one day at REI, while the work leading up to it, and hours of planning were equally as valuable and certainly important. In that sense, I think the collection better prepared me for college and professional life than the usual trail cleaning or what have you, as most things are not physical, but organizational in nature once you move past the days of scouts."

Senthil Kannan, troop 1983, completed his Eagle scout project with BfW in 2012 at the REI in Fairfax:

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 :)

Wheels of Africa: BfW heads to Kenya



First BfW container donated to WoA

Wheels of Africa received its first container of bicycles from Bikes for the World in May, a second a few weeks ago and we are loading a third this weekend! This builds on their first shipment in December 2011 from Montana based non-profit Wheels of Change.

Wheels of Africa (WoA) got started in October 2008. Back then it was more of a club for people to get together to ride for pleasure. It has since evolved into a bike advocacy group  and much more. Now it sells and rents bikes, trains mechanics and donates bikes to selected local groups.

You've heard us talk about the Bicycling Empowerment Network (BEN), another BfW partner, here on the blog a lot lately and this is no exception. BEN Namibia mechanics went to Nairobi to train budding WoA mechanics.

New bike beneficiary in Kenya

 While most WoA bikes are sold, many are donated.  Bramwel Simiyu from Arrow Web Hospital for AIDS patients in Nairobi, picked up 12 WoA donated bicycles to be used by health workers who visit patients at home. Another 13 were given to Kijiji cha Upendo, a program in Kibera, a slum area nestled against Nairobi proper. These bikes will be the start of training for some young mechanics and bike sales. Eco Tourism Kenya received 10 bikes for working class staff members to kick start their bike rental enterprise.

Hellen Gelband with Bramwel Simiyu and WoA's Prisca Oluoch

BfW Board Member Hellen Gelband has been over to see the program in person and help get BfW's partnership with WoA rolling. She brought us some of the above findings and hopes to bring home more stories of how your donated bikes are bringing dreams to remote pockets of Africa. We hope to hear more stories from her journeys as our bikes change lives two wheels at a time.

You can read more about Wheels of Africa by simply following our blog or joining us on facebook!

Give 'em What They Want

2009 loading for Costa Rica

Bikes for the World is in position to ship its 70,000th bike before year's end and we are pretty darn proud of that. One of the things that makes us so successful overseas is that we listen to what our partner programs want and try to ship those types of bikes to those countries/programs.

For example, Costa Rica loves beach cruisers but doesn't want 3 speeds. The African countries are more rural and therefore want more mountain bikes than a more urban project like Barbados.

We get feedback from our partners that includes information pertaining to what their beneficiaries want and need, what the country is capable of sustaining, and what the government will actually allow into the country. We try to make our shipments as close to their requests as possible.


Kate Oberg's computer arriving in Costa Rica

In Costa Rica any used rubber product (not already on a bike), such as the spare tubes and tires we typically use to level out the boards between rows of bicycles, is NOT allowed; the government will confiscate this. That presents a problem with a container packed with over 500+ bikes; therefore, we only send NEW tires to Costa Rica.

One thing they do accept though, is computers. And we do, on special occasions, ship random items like this. Back in 2009, someone by the name of Kate OBERG donated a laptop computer to Costa Rica. And apparently if you have special ties to the Executive Director (she's Keith's daughter) you can actually get a picture of it being off loaded! :)

TERRIFIC program allows Rockville youth to earn bikes

Another factor to consider when shipping bikes overseas, is what spare parts or mechanical skills are needed to keep the bikes working. Walmart makes an 'odd' sized wheel that is 18" in diameter and many countries cannot find supplies for this size bike.

Because we support several youth programs right here in our area we often pull these bikes out to keep here in the local area. Many of these are reconditioned by BfW and donated to the City of Rockville for their TERRIFIC program.

BENN supported bike shop

We always ship spare parts along with a shipment of bikes; this is why we always say your bike doesn't have to be in perfect working condition. The bikes we pull from the Shady Grove recycling center are sometimes in bad shape, but still have working parts on them. So the volunteers that come out for our Thursday night volunteer nights will strip those frames for parts that will be shipped overseas.

This way local folks can work on the bikes once they arrive giving them a valuable marketable skill. It also helps make the program sustainable. Many of our partners provide skills training through their programs. This includes not only bike mechanic skills, but also business skills so they can successfully run a bike shop.

Erika Pimentel  Courtesy Patronato Luz del Ciego

On special occasions BfW has partnered with other groups to ship some unique items. Last year courtesy of Peace Corps Friends Panama and Goodwill Panama a few braillers (typewriters for the blind) accompanied a shipment of bikes to Panama.

Most recently we shipped 152 used water meters, surplus equipment donated by the Arlington County (VA) Department of Public Works, that were delivered via our partner Salvadoran Appropriate Technology Center and to a Peace Corps volunteer in El Salvador.

Sra Luz de Madrid

Most commonly, however, we ship portable sewing machines. One of our biggest annual collections at Otterbein United Methodist Church in Hagerstown often yields a lot of sewing machine donations.

Beneficiaries are often taught sewing techniques through the program and the donated machines not only facilitate this instruction but also help the recipients generate income for their families. BfW has donated over 200 sewing machines to Panama, Costa Rica, and Uganda.

Over the years we have also shipped half a container of books to the Gambia, for local schools, in partnership with Books for International Goodwill, a Rotary Club project. Half a container of wheelchairs, crutches, and canes went to Goodwill Panama through Goodwill Virginia. Given the mission of the Goodwill working with and training individuals with disabilities this shipment was much appreciated and needed. Even the ply board we use for stacking the bicycles is reused and valuable overseas.