Tag: Staff

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Executive Digests News

A Whirlwind of Learning and Connection

By Andy Gordon, Executive Director

It’s been a whirlwind of learning and connection since joining the Sharing Wheels team in December. This experience has truly reinforced a core belief: a lasting nonprofit must be able to successfully blend the practices of business with the heart of a community. Witnessing firsthand the passion and dedication of our staff and the warmth of the community we serve has been incredibly inspiring. I can already see why Sharing Wheels has thrived for twenty-two years, and I’m excited to contribute to its continued success.

In my first few months, Sharing Wheels transitioned directors, went through year end tasks like budgeting and filing, reorganized our digital and physical office spaces, launched our new Youth Bike Club, and kicked off our 2025 season of Mobile Bike Repair. Looking forward, our plan is to continue to build program momentum for 2025 while mobilizing several new volunteer teams aimed at growing operational areas of the business such as fundraising, community development, and outreach. With a growth of income and person power, I’m confident we will be able to tackle moving Sharing Wheels to a new location.

I want to take a moment to acknowledge the incredible support I’ve gotten from Christy Cowley, our director-emeritus, over the last few months. Any successes I can tout would ultimately not be possible without her help and teaching. I am also immensely thankful for the help and guidance I have received from our board of directors, whose volunteer efforts are essential to our mission. Together we’ve used this transition to update some of our operations. We’ve upgraded office technology, streamlined our financial processes, and enhanced our donor management — all of which strengthen our ability to serve the community.

This month, after long hours of planning and preparation we held our inaugural session of the Sharing Wheels Youth Bike Club. Led by new youth program manager Kristen Kosidowski, our first cohort of six middle schoolers learned biking basics and had a great time doing it. It was an all-hands project launching this and during the first session our entire staff could feel the impact we will be making with this program. Our second, spring cohort is already fully booked and excited to take part in the club.

Not to be outshined, Ed took his new duties managing our myriad shop programs in stride while also finding time to support the launch of the youth program. We are now scheduled for more than thirty Mobile Bike Repair visits in 2025. Larry, Ron, and other awesome volunteers recently took MBR to Mukilteo and Mountlake Terrace. In between, Ed and Sharing Wheels volunteers ran a booth at the annual Seattle Bike Swap.

Eric has been running the shop more often to support Ed getting regular office time. In addition, he took on more hours when Andrew was on leave for a large portion of January, enjoying some much-deserved recovery time. Andrew is back now and the two of them have been impactful both in the shop as stellar mechanics and in our youth club as engaging, secondary instructors.

In personal news, I have a bike! It’s rusty and every part on it seems to be fused solid but I’m pretty proud of it. I have been volunteering in the shop when I can to meet more community members. There Andrew, Eric, and many helpful volunteer mechanics have been teaching me the basics of cassettes, derailleurs, and other drive train components. It’s been suggested several times that I join the Youth Bike Club cohort. Undaunted, my goal is to get this bike running, learn commuter safety, and then bike ‘n bus from my home in Mountlake Terrace to Sharing Wheels. Preferably during the warmer months.

Thanks for reading! I’m always open to your feedback and assistance, preferably over a cup of coffee.

-Andy

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Board News

A Warm Welcome from our New Director

Andy Gordon with tidy workshop in the background.

By Andrew Gordon, Executive Director

Hello, everyone!

I’m Andy, and I’m thrilled to be joining Sharing Wheels as the new Executive Director (see staff bio). I’ve been so impressed by the incredible work you all do to make biking accessible and affordable for everyone in our community.

In my previous role, I cofounded and managed a nonprofit makerspace, and I’m eager to bring my experience in community building and organizational leadership to Sharing Wheels.* I’m particularly excited about the opportunity to help Sharing Wheels grow its budget and programs, and to find a new location in Everett that will allow us to serve even more folks in need. 

I’m confident that with the support of our dedicated staff, volunteers, and community partners, we can continue to grow our community and increase our impact in the region!

I’m looking forward to getting to know all of you. I am planning to spend time helping in the shop each week. Feel free to stop in and say hello, or email me at andygordon@sharingwheels.org if you’d like to schedule a particular meetup. Until then, let’s keep working together to make a positive impact in our community!

-Andy

*EDITORS NOTE: The board hiring committee was also excited about Andy’s experience addressing training, safety and on-boarding processes in a shop environment with tools and volunteers. And he agreed to go by his nickname “Andy” since we already have one Andrew working for Sharing Wheels. – KK

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News

Andrew’s Thank You “Card”

Andrew Longstreet organizes bike parts

By Andrew Longstreet 

As many of you know, a few months ago, I underwent several surgeries that left my index finger amputated slightly past the first knuckle on my dominant hand. Although I am still in physical therapy, awaiting prosthesis, and have frequent visits with my surgeons, I have finally been able to return to working at Sharing Wheels. And in so doing, I would like to take the time to thank everyone who has so graciously supported me through this recovery process. 

Soon after I was able to begin using my hand again, I sat down and began creating thank you cards in appreciation for anyone who was able to show support, assist,  help, or donate to my recovery. In this way, I first learned of the gravity of my injury and how it was going to effect me, even after it was fully healed.

When I was young, I had injured my right hand, and had to use my left hand to use tools and write with for a short time. Albeit the handwriting mainly illegible, and tool use laborious and inaccurate. But I healed and things went back to normal.

With the bandages off and so much so- healed,  I suddenly found that the illegibility and inaccuracy of my left hand was now, most dexterous and accurate part of my entire body, the remaining intact index finger. 

As it turns out, the end knuckle of our dominant index finger is our primary means of engaging our modern environments. Although I have learned to use a keyboard once more, I can no longer write, use chopsticks, use power tools comfortably, or even really use my bicycle brakes effectively. But, I was never a fan of picking small items up to begin with, so we can consider that a win. 

In summary, I am very grateful to being a part of this community, and wanted to apologize for not being able to express my gratitude sooner. You are a huge part of what makes this small peninsula of Everett such a fantastic place to call home.

Thank  you for everything, and for being who you are and part of this community bike project. I look forward to our continued interactions, and hope to use this as an opportunity to grow and bring more to the table. 

Best regards,

Andrew Scott Longstreet 

(The greatest bike rider that has ever lived {in Everett})

Categories
News Volunteers

New Shop Manager Ed

Ed Roos standing with his bike.

Sharing Wheels News

We would like to introduce Ed Roos as our new Shop Manager! Ed started with us on staff right after Labor Day, but he first came to Sharing Wheels as a volunteer during our Holiday Kid Bike Work parties last fall.

He then joined a new volunteer training in January and donated his time in our shop and at outreach events every week since.

Ed has been an urban bike commuter for most of his working life. He has also “biked every nook and cranny of Western Washington”, participating in the STP, The Chilly Hilly, RSVP, The Tri Island and many other bike rides in the area.

His recent professional experience was serving as an elementary school principal in Seattle Public Schools. He has since started an education consulting business, which he’ll continue to do on the side.

Like his predecessor Aaron Taht, a big part of Ed’s job is keeping things organized, keeping volunteers busy on useful projects, and keeping customers happy.

Andrew Longstreet continues as our main bike mechanic. Executive Director Christy Cowley is excited to have Ed on staff as a partner in the growth of Sharing Wheels as an organization.

“His past professional experience of leading teams, developing training programs and improving operational efficiency will serve our organization well as we move forward,” she said.

Holiday Open House

Join us at the shop to celebrate another successful year of “keeping people and bikes moving.”

  • Meet shop staff & board members
  • See the tally of bikes donated and repaired
  • Tour the shop & get some great gift ideas
  • Make final bids in our Velo Art auction

We’ll have hot apple cider, holiday treats and music to get you in the spirit, plus some Sharing Wheels trivia as we kickoff our 20th year.

Drop in anytime during the event. After 6:30 p.m., Santa’s elves will be busy fixing kids bikes – our final push to repair and donate more than 100 bikes to families in need for the holidays.

Categories
News

2019 Annual Report

Committing to Our Mission

By Kristin Kinnamon, Board President

Every nonprofit should have a purpose, a problem you are trying to solve. Simply getting bikes is not the problem, for us or our customers. We had more than 300 bikes donated to us last year!

The problem is that bikes need maintenance and repairs. And people don’t have the tools or know-how to fix them. That’s the basis for our new mission statement:

 Keeping People and Bikes Moving – with E.A.S.E.

Sharing Wheels Mission

We spell out how we achieve our mission below. To keep focused on it, we hired our first (part-time) executive director at the end of the year. A new shop manager starts in January 2020. But the most important work of Sharing Wheels could not be done without our volunteers. 

We couldn’t repair all the bikes, help customers fix their own bikes, or make the impact that we do without dedicated volunteers giving us their time and talents. Volunteers keep bikes affordable, empower people with one-on-one mentoring, learn bike maintenance themselves, and make our nonprofit sustainable.  50 people gave 1,800 hours last year – equal to a full-time staff person.

Empowerment

Open Shop: The tools and bike stands at Sharing Wheels are available for anyone to use, no charge. Free advice is provided by Sharing Wheels staff or experienced volunteers. 4-10 people each week; 73% identify as low income.

Bike Lights: Low income customers who use their bikes for daily transportation can get free front and rear lights.  37 lights installed.

Affordability

Bike & Parts Sales: Sales of refurbished bikes and used parts are the main source of income for Sharing Wheels. We make sure to have bikes at all price points, so everyone can afford a decent ride. 250 bikes sold.

Work for Wheels: Customers without cash can volunteer time in the shop to earn the parts or bike they need to get around.  10 work-trade participants.

Sustainability

Kids Bikes: Volunteers fix used kids bikes each spring and fall for our Kids Bike Swap and Christmas House programs. We add the new parts and elbow grease needed to keep old bikes going for a new generation. 102 bikes went home with kids during our June Bike Swap. 108 bikes donated to Christmas House.

Bikes to Africa: Some bikes that would never sell still have value. We donate excess bicycles to the Village Bike Project and Vision 224. 111 bikes to Africa

Education

Repair Classes: We had only a few formal bike maintenance classes in 2019, but have recommitted to this important part of our mission in 2020.

Events: County Earth Day, Bike Everywhere Day, WSU Repair Cafes, Family Rides in Arlington and Marysville. Riverside Neighborhood National Night Out.

WorkSource Intern: We hosted a young man for 90 hours of job training.

2019 Budget

Adopted budget.

Revenue

Bike Sales$37,248
Parts Sales23,580
Donations$17,400
Grants$10,500
Classes$1,472
Total$96,200

 

 

Expenses

Salaries$55,002
Bike Parts$14,599
Rent$10,500
Insurance/Fees$6,650
Administrative$2,775
Other Shop$4,800
Total$94,236

Grants & In-Kind Support

  • Nysether Family Foundation – $6,500 grant 
  • BIKES Club of Snohomish County – $2,000 grant
  • Everett Port Gardner Rotary Club – $1,750 grant
  • Tulalip Tribes – $1,000 grant
  • Boeing Employee matching funds – $1,000
  • Sno-Isle Food CoOp – $917 “register round-up” donation, meeting space
  • Evergreen Unitarian Universalist Church – $500 donation, group work party
  • Snohomish Giving Circle – $400 donation
  • 501 Commons – Satterberg Foundation – in-kind support

 

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Home Page Post News

Coronavirus Closure

UPDATED MARCH 27

By Kristin Kinnamon, Board President

Sharing Wheels Community Bike Shop supports essential transportation for many people who are at risk for severe illness should they contract coronavirus.  We benefit from the time and talents of many senior-age volunteers, also considered vulnerable to the virus.

It’s hard to keep a bike shop clean. And it’s hard to help someone fix a bike without getting closer than public health recommends.

In light of these concerns, Sharing Wheels Community Bike Shop will be closed to the public starting Wednesday, March 18.

Until then, only four people will be permitted in the shop at one time.  That will allow staff, volunteers and customers to maintain social distancing, clean hands, and clean surfaces.

From mid-March to at least early April the shop will remain closed for most retail and DIY operations. Basic tools and a bike stand will be available in the shop garage for people who need to fix their own flat or make a minor adjustment. Customers who want to buy a bike in-person can call the shop to make an appointment at 425-252-6952. We also list higher end bikes and a variety of parts on our eBay store.

Sharing Wheels staff will remain at work: repairing bikes, organizing the shop, managing programs, and posting items for online sales.

Regular volunteers can schedule time to assist in the shop. We will be maintaining a 4-person maximum occupancy of our shop space.

The basic bike repair class scheduled for March 25 is rescheduled to May 13.  A plan for the Kids Bike Work Parties scheduled to start in April will be announced at a later date.