Bikes for Farmworkers continues to roll along
The Niagara-on-the-Lake volunteer organization Bikes for Farmworkers began the day without a two-wheeler to repair. But three hours after its Saturday drop-off event started, there were more than 40 bikes sitting in a basement ready to be worked on, alongside about 170 rehabilitated bikes to be rolled out to farm workers.
“We have really strong support from the community,” said Ken Eden of the organization. “We have a generous landlord. And the community keeps donating bikes.”
Most of the donations came from the Niagara-on-the-Lake and St. Catharines areas, but one person drove from Cayuga to drop off some bikes.
Bikes for Farmworkers held its annual bicycle donation drop-off at the former Virgil Elementary School on Four Mile Creek Road.
From 10 a.m. to about 1 p.m. there was a steady stream of vehicles stopping at the building unloading bikes, and volunteers hurriedly taking them inside.
Henry Vanderleek of Niagaraon-the-Lake arrived just after noon with two bikes for the group.
“They were sitting in the garage for years,” he said. “We don’t use them anymore.”
The group, founded by Terry Weiner and Mark Gaudet in 2015, now has about 15 volunteers who transform broken and battered bikes into a critically needed means of transportation for farm labourers.
“We take donated bikes and refurbish them,” said Eden, a former Niagara-on-the-Lake fire chief who joined the organization in 2017 and became the point person in charge in 2022. “It’s (farm workers’) only personal transportation method the whole time they are here.”
Since Bikes for Farmworkers was established — it has been associated with the Gateway Community Church Outreach Program since 2020 — more than 4,000 rehabilitated bikes have been sold. Between 2020 and 2023, volunteers took between 500 and 600 broken down bikes each year and repaired them for use.
The donated bikes go through a 50-point review checklist before work begins on them. They are then sold to farm workers for $25, an increase from $20, which is a cost-recovery price, said Eden.
Eden said the group keeps a minimum balance in its bank account. If the group exceeds it, then funds are donated to programs associated with farm workers, he said.
The volunteers work Tuesdays and Thursdays, when farm workers arrive ready to make a bike purchase or have their own two-wheeler repaired. If the bike can’t be repaired, parts are reused.