The Broken Spoke needs new wheels
Aubrey Foley jokes his truck, like him, is starting to get a little tired.
It’s with good reason, both the truck and Foley have been busy keeping the wheels turning at the Broken Spoke, Port Colborne High School’s bicycle repair shop. The shop teaches students bike repair, while refurbishing bikes diverted from landfill and providing donations for those in need.
Before students can get their hands greasy on the bikes, Foley has to hop into his 1998 GMC and head out to five regional landfills, from Side Road 12 in Grimsby all the way to Fort Erie, to pick up bikes set aside for him. Last year he pulled 1,600 from landfill alone, and that doesn’t include the nonstop daily phone calls for bike donation pickups across the region. Last Friday saw him zigzagging across the peninsula in his aging truck.
Before he hits the road he always tops up the rad fluid, it has a habit of going empty daily.
“It’s seen better days,” said Foley, leaning on the green 1500 pickup truck lovingly referred to by students and Foley alike as “the ditch pig.”
Unloading a new batch of bikes from the truck last Friday at Port High, Foley explained the transmission is starting to go and the truck’s days are finally numbered, creating a bit of an issue not only for the Broken Spoke program, that feeds charities and needy families from Hamilton to Niagara, but also Foley’s home garage where for 10 years he has refurbished bikes for shipment to five developing countries.
Luckily for Foley, the Port Colborne Optimists Club is leading the charge on a GoFundMe campaign for a new truck. Janet Pilon of the club explained it just made sense, the Optimists help distribute the bikes to deserving families through local schools, and, with a club mandate of helping children, Foley’s efforts to teach youth to give back while providing bikes to the less fortunate are a perfect fit.
“Without the truck these bikes can’t get out,” said Pilon, noting the need is definitely there. She had to pick up Foley at the side of the road with a flat tire just over a week ago.
Foley said he’s happy for the help. He makes at least one trip a day to pick up or drop off bikes, usually more. He’s handed out over 6,000 over the past 10 years, donating to 34 community and charity groups alone last year. Just as importantly, he said, the Broken Spoke program is a unique opportunity to teach teens to give back through the only for-credit high school bike repair course in Canada.
“That in and of itself is amazing,” said Foley.
The GoFundMe runs for two more weeks toward its $10,000 goal. For more information visit www.gofundme.com/ new-wheels-forthe-broken-spoke.