The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
BIKE DAY LIFTS UP THOSE IN NEED
HAMILTON, N.Y. >> With elbow grease and help from the community, Community Bikes is getting hundreds of bicycles prepared to go home with Madison County residents in need.
“Whatwe’re trying to do is have people leave with a bike they like, that will do what they want to do and make sure they know how to use it,” Community Bikes Founder and Chair Chuck Fox said. “The idea is to get as many bikes out to as many people as we can early in the riding season so they can enjoy them.”
It’s the ninth annual Bike Day and Fox said this year, around 300 people have put in an application for a bicycle. Back in the day, Fox said it was small — nowhere near that number. “When we started, we would drive to people’s houses with a trunk load of bikes,” Fox said. Now, Fox drives with a trailer and gets help from Terry Mosher of Mosher Farms in Bouckville to haul all their bikes.
On Sunday, May 5, around 300 bikes will be shipped off to the Oneida High School.
Community Bikes is not a program that just gives out bikes to people who want one, Fox said, but rather something for someone in Madison County who’d love to have a bike but can’t because of hardships. To find those people, Fox said Community Bikes has been getting in touch
“Whatwe’re trying to do is have people leavewith a bike they like, that will dowhat theywant to do and make sure they knowhowto use it.”
— Community Bikes Founder and Chair Chuck Fox
with every human service agency in Madison County.
“Community Action Partnership, Social Services, Head Start, Liberty Resources, every school and every church,” Fox said. “We invite them to refer to us people they work with or in the community that would really like a bike, but it’d be a problem to buy one.”
When Community Bikes started to progress, Fox said he was surprised how many adults there were in the community who really needed a bike. “There’d be people who can’t afford a car, can’t afford the gas, can’t afford the insurance or don’t have a license and have a place they need to be,” Fox said. “We had a guy who lived in Munnsville and he had to be in Wampsville every day for his workforce program. And he was walking. For all of us that live in Central New York, riding a bike in the middle of March might not be the best thing, but it’s better than walking.”
For each Bike Day, Fox said volunteers are on hand to speak with Madison County residents oneon-one and find the best bike for them. Volunteers go through what the applicant wants to use the bike for, look for something they like and guide themto what’s best for them. Recipients are even given an opportunity to test-ride their bike and learn how to operate it.
Once they match a person with the perfect bike, volunteers make sure Madison County residents go home with not just a new bike, but a bike lock as well.
With as many bikes collected by Community Bikes, it takes a small army to get them all up to speed.
“It’s a rotating shift of volunteers,” Fox said. “We have a core group, with Dwayne Martinez as our event coordinator. He and a group of retired residents and Colgate students work a couple hours each day, fixing bikes.”
Cleaning the bikes is another important job and a big one when there’s anywhere from 200 to 500 needing work. Fox said students from Real Life Christian School, Colgate University, Hamilton College and SUNY Morrisville come to volunteer time cleaning bikes. Fox said many of the bikes that come in are donations from people who haven’t used it in years.
Fraternities, sororities, students, athletes, local residents and more make up the bulk of volunteers, Fox said, with around 100 total through the year offering their time and labor to help.
“It’s a good volunteer assignment. It’s hard work, we tell them,” Fox said. “There’s a lot of parts to clean. But we’re going for the ‘wow’ factor. When people come in, we want them to be excited. But to do that, you got to get all that rust out of there.”
But not all bikes that come in need work.
“Within the last few years, we worked out an arrangement with some of the big box stores,” Fox said. “We get access to some of their damaged bikes. And sometimes, the damage is small. Sometimes it’s the package or it’s missing a seat or pedal.” In those cases, bikes that can’t be saved are used for spare parts, Fox said.
On top of that, Fox said Community Bikes partners with the Madison County Landfill, Chenango County and Sherrill transfer station to save bikes.
“They know what we’re looking for and they’ll call us” Fox said. “There’s some bikes that need too much work and we can’t do anything, but when they [landfill workers] see a bike that might work, they put it aside. Those are bikes we’re keeping out of the landfill and it’s usually the same thing. People are cleaning out the garage and have a bike they don’t use anymore and take it to the landfill. It’s a win all the way around.”
Local police stations and college campuses with abandoned bikes also contribute to the cause after bikes sit in their possession for too long.
“We know this a good thing we’re doing,” Fox said. “It’s not unique, we know there’s other organizations that have done a similar thing. But we know this serves a real need. That’s not to overstate it or understate it. Getting a bike for someone, for whatever reason, is a good thing to do. Here’s a way we can be engaged and engage other people in the community in something that has a good outcome.”
Community Bikes accepts donations year round. Anyone looking to donate a bike, volunteer or for more information can contact Community Bikes at at 315-825-1361 or email Fox at chuck.fox@communitybikes.org.