‘LEND-A-WHEEL’
YMCA program in Kingston gives bicycles to people in need
For folks like Sasha Sun, a bicycle can mean the difference between independence and the reliance on others.
Like many others who live n the city, Sun, doesn’t drive or own a car.
“I’ve been on a bike and a pedestrian for more than a decade now,” said the mother of three.
But when Sun moved into her current apartment, she found there was really no good way to protect her bicycle and her bicycle became a victim of the elements.
“Our bikes were all destroyed,” she said.
“I’ve been on buses, I’ve walked, I really need my bike,” she said.
Not sure where to turn, Sun said she reached out to Bike Friendly Kingston for assistance and they put her in touch with Tom Polk, the bicycle educator for the YMCA of Kingston and Ulster County.
Since 2014, Polk has run the “Lend-A-Wheel” bicycle reuse program, through which people donate bicycles they no longer want or need to the program, and then the bikes are repaired and given to people in need.
“These are low-income people,” said Polk of the recipients. “They may have been homeless and are now in a shelter, they may have a job or are going back to school, they may have families to shop for.”
Regardless of their circumstances, he said, the bicycles make a difference in the recipients’ lives.
“As part of that progress to get a stable life, transportation is important,” he said. “I’m utterly convinced that it is making a difference in people’s lives.”
Polk said the program started with the donation of some bicycles from Habitat for Humanity and Central Hudson.
At first, he said, the program operated by word of mouth, and as the program grew, he began reaching out to other organizations for bicycle donations.
This summer, he said, Polk and Family of Woodstock worked out an arrangement through which is now referring all of its clients in need to the “Lend-A-Wheel” program.
As a result, he said, the need for bicycles has exploded.
“So we really have a big backlog and thought we needed to get out and ask the community for help,” he said.
Polk is looking for donations of used bicycles from people who have old bikes or ones they aren’t using anymore, but don’t want to just throw out.
He said minor repairs to bicycles can be made, although generally, they don’t like to spend more than $40 to repair a bike, although those bikes can sometimes be used for parts for other bikes.
He said there is no “means test” for who can get the bikes, “it’s pretty much if you need it to get around you can have it.
“They’re not high tech fancy bikes, but if you accept what I’ve got for you, then God bless you and be safe.”
Since the program first began, Polk said, he has given bicycles to 217 people.
“They make such a difference it people’s lives,” Polk said. “And the satisfaction I get when I hand over a bike and shake a person’s hand and hear them say ‘this is going to make such a difference,’ it’s an amazing feeling,” he said.
Sun said getting her bicycle has been life-changing.
“The first day I got the (child carrier), I took my son down to the beach,” she said. “We can ride our bikes up the hill to our church.
“It just made my life so much better,” she said. “This is such a blessing.
“I just want to go out and yell his name at the top of the mountain,” she said.
To donate a bicycle or learn more about the program, contact Polk at (845) 338-3810, ext. 102, or email tpolk@ymcaulster.org.