DreamBikes gives teenagers valuable work experience
KNOXVILLE - Seventeen-year-old Jamesha Fain most days can be found with a wrench in her hand, hard at work refurbishing bicycles at DreamBikes in Knoxville.
The Austin-East High School student landed her job at the shop through the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley in December, about a month before its opening. She is one of seven students who work at DreamBikes, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that strategically places bike shops in low- to moderate-income neighborhoods.
“We work with teens, giving them paid, hands-on job training as they go through high school,” Mitchell Connell, DreamBikes assistant manager, said. “In high school, especially, everything is on paper. It’s really cool to see these kids build up bikes and at the end, they’re smiling, test riding the bike. It’s awesome. It’s this physical, tactile object they’ve completed.”
The organization, which has five other locations in the U.S., also aims to keep bikes out of landfills. Anyone with an old, broken or unwanted bicycle can donate it to DreamBikes. The shop has received about 250 bikes and refurbished about 150 thus far.
Anyone can purchase a bike from DreamBikes. The average price is between $150 and $300, and Connell said there’s a bike for every type of rider.
At least 100 refurbished bikes are donated annually to someone in need.
“Bikes are all about mobility,” Connell said. “We’re really close to a large at-need population here, and the fact that they can just walk here is huge . ... Every person that has a bike donated has to have signed documentation from a social service member that says they need a bike. With that document, we’ll put a bike in their hands.”
Fain said she likes working for an organization that helps those around her.
But the senior’s first thoughts about working at a bike shop weren’t so positive. Fain said she knew how to pedal a bike, but nothing else.
“I was like, ‘OK, it’s going to be nice,’ but at the same time I was like, ‘I’m not going to catch on to anything,’ ” she said. Now she regularly repairs bikes. “You go through all this work just to fix one bike, and when you get done, it’s like, ‘Wow, this is what I’ve done,’ ”Fain said. “Then it makes you more happy because you’re learning as you go. Every bike you fix, you learn something different. When we do get done with the bikes, we’re really proud.”
DreamBikes also operates as a full-service repair shop. Anyone can bring in a bike for service. Connell said a tuneup costs $40.
The organization largely is community supported, receiving funds from bike purchases and repair services. Bicycle donations supply the shop with inventory, and there are other types of support.
Golden Roast Coffee House owner Don Payne created a DreamBikes Blend of coffee to be sold at Golden Roast, DreamBikes, Fresh Market, Earth Fare and Whole Foods.
Fifty percent of the DreamBikes Blend will go to the organization. The blend is expected by the end of March.
In warmer months, the organization operates a mobile repair van that works to keep children on safe bicycles.
The van team will repair children’s bikes for free, and once every child in line has received a repair, the team will repair adult bikes.
DreamBikes hopes to add a program manager who will assist students with college applications, provide tutoring and advise students on aspects of their education outside of the shop. A DreamBikes scholarship program is in the organization’s future.
On March 14, Kickstand and DreamBikes will give away 40 bikes at the Haslam Boys and Girls Club kin Knoxville, and the Epilepsy Foundation will provide helmets for each child.