I overheard the short conversation from my office. A man walked past with Pete, our bike shop coordinator, on their way out to the bike shop.
“I need to get somewhere this afternoon,” the man said.
“It’s done,” Pete responded cheerfully.
“That’s good,” the man replied. “Thank you so much…so much.”
I could hear a genuine tone of deep gratitude in the man’s voice, and I could practically see the weight as it lifted off his shoulders.
For many of Patchwork’s guests, their bicycles are their transportation. If their bike breaks down or gets stolen, they’ve lost their ability to get around the city. This makes access to a bike shop that can repair damage or provide a replacement bike essential.
Additionally, we’ve recently begun a partnership with the Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office. We’re working with the sheriff’s office to place a bike rack and bikes at the jail. The bikes are available for jail staff to give to people as they are released. It has quickly become a valuable resource for the jail staff as they look to help people succeed after their release.
Overall, Patchwork’s bike shop continues to be a well-utilized program. Our bike shop volunteers are here most Tuesday and Thursday mornings and they stay busy. From 9 am-10 am they accept repair jobs as people bring their broken bikes and the volunteers assess them to see if they can help. They replace many inner tubes and adjust a lot of brakes.
The rest of the volunteers’ mornings are spent refurbishing donated bikes. Once they’ve built up a good collection of these refurbished bikes, they schedule a day to distribute them to anyone who could use a bike. These giveaways are first-come, first-served and always popular. They happen about every one to two months.
Recently, we’ve added a few more volunteer bike mechanics, so we have plenty of people power to do this work. These volunteers have also spent time organizing their space and supplies. Now they’re a well-oiled machine that’s ready to go to work refurbishing bikes—if only we had more bikes to refurbish.
That’s where you come in!
We accept donations of adult-sized bikes that are in decent shape (no “parts” bikes). If you have one to donate, you can bring it to Patchwork (100 Washington Ave) Monday-Thursday, 9 am-noon. If the bike shop volunteers aren’t here, come to our main office and we’ll help you out!