This month people from all walks of life are getting out into the sunshine on bikes built, refurbished, and maintained by Sharing Wheels. Some of these riders have been cycling their whole lives while others are just beginning their journey with bikes. This year alone, over 200 more bicycles have found new homes thanks to the Sharing Wheels Community Bike Shop. I wonder how many early, 2000’s-era SW bikes are still floating around, being enjoyed on days like these.
To celebrate Bike Month, Sharing Wheels is taking part in a multitude of events. Earlier this month we partnered with Snotrac and Everett Parks Dept to provide repairs in the Casino Rd area of Everett at Walter E Hall Park. We’ll be attending Everett’s Bike Everywhere Day celebration this Friday, with a community ride from Sharing Wheels to the event. On top of these unique events, we’re hosting our popular Kid Bikes repair parties every Tuesday and Thursday along with Mobile Bike Repair events at WSU Everett, The Village, Mariner Library, and Emma Yule Park!
Our first Youth Bike Club cohort has graduated! To celebrate we threw a party for them and snacked on Nothing Bundt Cakes with North Middle School families and Sharing Wheels staff and community members. Congrats go to our volunteers and staff for rocking the delivery of our inaugural youth program. Not being the types to rest on their laurels, our team is already halfway through our next cohort and cooking up ideas for engaging alumni youth and families through the summer.
Our Kid Bikes program is looking at a record year as over 100 youth bikes currently await refurbishment and distribution. This influx has demonstrated a concrete need for better organization of our bikes as they await refurbishment. Thankfully, stellar volunteer Don A has helped us design some expanded storage to make it easier for our volunteers to store and access kiddo bikes. We will build and install it after the summer giveaway, when there’s a little more room to move around. In the meantime, you can help us fix kid bikes to give to in-need youth. It’s a great way to meet other folks in the community and do good at the same time. No experience necessary.
Finally, I had the pleasure of riding with congressman Rick Larsen last month, alongside many other Snohomish advocates. He rode on a bike furnished by Sharing Wheels as we visited sites where various Advocacy projects to improve local biking were bearing fruit. Despite it being one of my first rides in decades, I felt confident thanks to guidance from fellow Sharing Wheels folks on the trek.
With the sun out and so many events going on, this month is a great opportunity to get out into the world and feel the freedom and peace that comes with it. How will you get moving?
-Andy