Bike Drive for Bike Recycle Vermont

October 11, 2011

In the Bike Recycle Research and Service, different groups have been working on projects to help Bike Recycle Vermont, a program that gives bikes to low income Vermonters and refugees. One group held a bike drive. Last week ten bikes were brought in, and all of them will be going to Bike Recycle Vermont (BRVT). We have decided to extend the bike drive to this week as well, and hopefully we will receive even more bikes! The fundraising group is working on a raffle to have in the future. This raffle will be for a new bike and an ice cream certificate. The raffle tickets will be for two dollars apiece, and the money will go toward BRVT. The recycled parts group is taking apart a wheel, and figuring out what it can be used for. They want to make trinkets out of unusable bike parts for BRVT to sell for funds.

Another group is working on a bike safety pamphlet that will be distributed by Local Motion. Lately, we have been learning about the refugees that we serve at BRVT. We watched a movie about refugees from Sudan, and figured out that if you live in the city of Burlington, the average time it takes to bike from your house to anywhere in the city is only five minutes. At BRVT, we have been helping out around the shop so the manager has time to help more volunteers. Those experienced with bike repair “wrench” on bikes to get them ready for sale. The rest of us work on organizing the shop, doing tasks such as organizing nuts and bolts, making rags, sorting cables, and deflating tire tubes. The tasks may be small, but there is a sense of accomplishment once they are done.

posted by students, Haley Harder, Sophia Lothrop and Mae Kemsley