Bicycle Ministry - Startup Advice, Sources, etc.

[brett4christ]

I am starting a new ministry, on my own, and really without the "permission" of the church (although I did tell them what I was doing, and all encouraged me).

I will be collecting bikes, in any condition, from any source willing to donate, fix what needs to be fixed, and have bikes available for Christmas and birthdays for needy families' children. I have what used to be the church tractor garage, but since we no longer have a tractor, the space is seldom used. I have cleaned part of it out, and still have another room to the rear to straighten up.

The name I have chosen (but is not cast in stone) is...

"TMBC ReCycle Project" (TMBC = The Memorial Baptist Church)

I have designed a business card to leave at businesses and churches and to make the effort "official".

What I need from you guys is what to do now, and prayers for community support and God's will to be mainfested as none have seen before. I would love for this to take off to where I need volunteers to help collect and repair bikes, for local businesses to collect bikes and make product and or monetary donations.....you know.....love flowing out of the woodworks!

Looking forward to any advice y'all have to offer.

SDG

 

[yoothgeye]

I am just getting out of this, but I will now be giving my bikes to a local mission who has the fire department helping them fix the bikes. (you can read about my reason for "getting out" here: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=47903 )

Once the word gets out that you are doing this, bikes will come in, accept every bike, because turning one down will keep you from getting the next. If you have a local bike shop, next time you are shopping there, mention what you are doing, they sometimes will donate old parts or new and mine offered helping me buy bike tools at cost.

If you get a bike that you think is sellable, sell it to buy things like chains, tubes, pedals, grips, etc... Keep the money in the ministry, but be completely open about it.

Be ready to get requests, you might want to think about if you will take requests or just go somewhere with the bikes and give away what you have.

This will take a lot of love as sometimes you will end up giving away bikes to people that you know are trying to pull the fleece over you eyes.

Where are you located? That will help us all alot.

I will still be in the game, but not as heavy as I am now, I will now look for opportunities to give someone a bike instead of having opportunities (for them) come to me.

I am going to start taking my bikes to the mission today, they should be getting 20 or so, with more on the way as I clean out my supply.

 

[user 135]

Where are you located? That will help us all alot.
.

He may be close to you.

Yoothgeye has pretty much hit the nail on the head with his suggestions. The Boise Bike Project started out pretty much the same way. It has grown and they just purchased their own building. But they remain true to their roots of helping those in need. Develop a mission statement to help others in the community understand your ministry.

 

[brett4christ]

Thanks all!

I'm in Greenville, NC! yoothgeye, check your PMs.

I may be able to get storage facilities from within....one of our members owns a mini-storage and portable storage container service. The church has a 8x12 unit from him presently that may be available short term.

 

[yoothgeye]

PM'd back, for those who like "small world" scenarios I lived in Greenville and worked at a church there years ago. I remember when you church burned down, so sad, but it was great to see it rise from the ashes.

I didn't mention this in PM, but a local sign shop cut us some free decals to put on give away bikes. Another thing is develop a handlebar hanger, print on card stock and laminate if available. On one side, basic maintance and safety, on the other something to this effect. "Please enjoy this free bike from TMBC ReCycle Project, we hope that it will give you years of service and enjoyment, but over time it may need maintenence and repairs like most things. You may need to put a little money in it to keep it running smooth, so I guess in the end, it might not be considered a free gift anymore. Nothing in this world really is free, but I know of something out of this world that is totally free..."

You see where I'm going with this? :wink:

 

[KJV]

AMEN.

 

[thom]

I pray that God will bless your effort. I have thought a lot recently about using my interest in bicycles in a way to share my belief in Christ.Otherwise, I spend too much time on bicycles and too little time in prayer and studying God's word.I am in western NC. I look forward to hearing more from you.

 

[kngtmat]

A real cool idea, I really hope your project does great.

 

[yoothgeye]

Took my bikes to the Angel's Closet this morning, it ended up being 30 bikes, I did keep the 24" and 26" (cheap) mountain bikes and a couple kids bikes for parts. The "adult" sized bikes will be parts for tall bikes and other creations. This is the load they got:

(load shifted a little )

 

[brett4christ]

WOW! That's a LOAD!

Thanks for the prayers, well-wishes, and encouragement, fellas! I think I'm gonna need all of it before I get it going!

SDG

 

[user 135]

Thanks for the prayers, well-wishes, and encouragement, fellas! I think I'm gonna need all of it before I get it going!

Good Luck. Here is a slideshow of the history of the local bike coop. They started with an idea and $20.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfXMj0aQ ... r_embedded

 

[yoothgeye]

Thanks for the prayers, well-wishes, and encouragement, fellas! I think I'm gonna need all of it before I get it going!

Good Luck. Here is a slideshow of the history of the local bike coop. They started with an idea and $20.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfXMj0aQ ... r_embedded

Check out the video at 4:05 :wink:

 

[brett4christ]

Cool stuff, Clancy! Thanks, I'm going to save it as a favorite for future reference.

 

[hewey]

Hey mate, first of all best of luck in this venture :mrgreen:

A few ideas and suggestions from me. I've never been involved in a project like this, but in my work I do a lot of community activities and events and promoting them is always a challenge, especially when you're on a budget!
* Try contacting your local council (local government, not sure what you call them?) and try and have a chat to the community services team. They'll know a bunch of different networks, contacts in the local community, and non-government organisations which will be great when it comes to giving the bikes to disadvantaged families. They can also help you spread the word about what you are doing.
* Door knock your local bike shops and talk to them about what you're doing and ask if they would be interested in assisting in any way. This could be cash, parts, labour, or even something as simple as letting you put a poster up in the shop or flyers on the counter. Be prepared to do an initial visit and give them the run down, give them some pondering time and come back a week later and see what they say.
* Contact your local media (newspapers and radio), and let them know what you're doing. Most of them love warm fuzzy stories like this, and it's a great promotional tool for your program.
* Talk to the staff at your local library(ies) and ask if they can put up flyers or posters on their noticeboards or on the counter.
* Do some research and find out if there is any cycling clubs or cycling advocacy groups in the local area. They're a great potential source of volunteer labour, bikes and parts.
* Try contacting some of the large businesses and see if they are willing to ask staff to donate any old bikes to your project. I just coordinated a clothing drive at my work for the local thrift store and we got enough clothes to fill the tray of a mini truck!
* Celebrate all your 'wins' - even little ones!
* Always try and recognise and reward people who help out. If you did a major bike collection with a local business, a newspaper article is a great way of giving them props (offer to arrange a photoshoot and you double your chance of the local paper sending along a photographer, because you're making their job easy). If a bike shop lets you display your flyer on the counter make them a nice certificate of thanks they can hang in the shop to show off to customers. It makes them look good and you get advertising! Grab people's contact details when they donate bikes or bike parts. Send them an annual update letting them know about all the good work you have done that year. This makes them feel like they're part of something big and wortwhile, it recognises their contribution, and it also acts as a reminder and further advertising.
* Make sure you do the little things right. If you say you're going to get back to someone get back to them promptly. Be clear and simple in your communications and advertising. Be organised and professional with the people you're dealing with.
* Work on developing quality relationships. A good foundation is a great place to start something big! :mrgreen:

Good luck!

 

[brett4christ]

Great advice Hewey! Taken to heart!

 

[YOUBUGME2]

I'm in the process of getting something like this rolling as well, pun intended. The largest hurdle I'm facing right now is getting enough parts bikes to start fixing some up. I think one of the best things is to make sure its not ran out of your home, find a place where people can relate to that place and not your home. Right now I'm going to be fixing them up and using a community church that is in a poorer part of town to distribute them. I see the most need for them there, I see people walking all the time there just to get groceries. Keep this thread going and let us know how it is working out for you.

 

[brett4christ]

A small update:

Well, I went to a BMX festival downtown a couple months ago, and got a little discouraged. There is a Christian community center in town that is using bicycles and bike repair to teach vocational skills to at-risk kids (teens). They pay minimum wage funded by the sale of bikes they refurbish. To top it all off, they named themselves "Recycle Bicycle Shop"....see first post!

Fast forward to today....I have tentatively renamed our ministry "Born Again Bikes" for 2 obvious reasons. I have also contacted 3 recycling centers and the county landfill about collecting discarded bikes and notifying me once they have a load. I have one "commitment" and awaiting 3 callbacks. I have also been keeping my eye out for "strays". Picked up 2 last night....one rebuildable, one for parts.

I have to redo the cards I designed and get them out to the LBS's in town. Ine in particular seems to be very interested.

That's all for now. Praying that I have better updates for you next time.......

 

[yoothgeye]

I know about Recycle bike shop, I see them listing on Craigslist in Greenville all the time, the ads allude to it being a ministry or co-op type project, but I didn't know about it like that. Sorry, I should've pointed it out to you. I was just in Greenville last Thursday, had a chance to run into The Bicycle Post, I hadn't been there for over 10 years, looks the same, a bunch of new bikes and no personality.

I've been curious about the Recycle Bike Shop, they were (or are) having a bike special, $50 for any bike to clear out some room, I was curious because there is an older BMX with Tuffs that you can see in all the photos, but while the rest of the bikes are in racks, this once is hanging on the wall like a display.

Greenville is big enough for the both of you.

I went in that "Trade It" store across from Target shopping center, they had some worthless bikes, but they did have 2 trunk bike carriers for cheap, and a fork mount roof rack bike holder for $25, that was too high, maybe they could be priced down. Lots of used helmets too.