New community hub established with Bike Me Up Niagara
It’s not Santa’s workshop, but the team of volunteers working at Bike Me Up Niagara are lighting up the faces of recipients of two wheelers with smiles as wide as if it were Christmas morning.
Launched in May at Start Me Up Niagara's Work Action Centre at 203 Church St., bike shop manager Wayne Schmidt and his team of volunteers have been offering affordable bikes, repairs, training and more. The result has been selling 39 bikes at affordable prices to those in need, repairs to more than 176 bicycles for neighbourhood folks and plenty of skill and community building.
“It offers so much for the community,” said Start Me Up Niagara executive director, Susan Venditti. “It’s access to affordable transportation, safety, teaching new skills and promoting giving back to the community through volunteering.”
Gently used bikes are donated, restored by volunteers in the workshop and given a new beginning, offered to community members at prices as low as $30. The program, rolled out with some funding support from Niagara Prosperity Initiative, is the brainchild of Start Me Up Niagara board chair, Bob Hillier.
“We thought of this as a community bike shop where we can teach people how to work on their bikes, or people can come if they are in need of repairs, or for a bike itself,” said Hillier. “Bikes are a major mode of transportation for many of the participants in our services and unfortunately are also being stolen at an alarming rate. Having a source for affordable, quality bikes is fantastic, let alone the idea of having people learn and volunteer putting them together or making repairs.”
Schmidt says the centre is an extension of the philosophy of Start Me Up Niagara, which has a mission to provide opportunities to improve health, increase community integration and support employment. He said they’re even looking at borrowing the curriculum from Port Colborne High School’s Broken Spoke Bike program (where students can receive a credit for repairing and refurbishing bikes) to try and create a certificate to allow volunteers to find employment based on their skills. They have the tools and equipment in the Church Street shop.
“It would be great to help build these skills and allow them to use that for job seeking,” said Venditti.
The workshop is open for donations, or for those interested in purchasing a bike or repairing their bike, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Mondays, said Schmidt, are also used as pickup days for bike donations. For more information call 289-439-3939, ext. 209.