St. Mary’s Bike Repair & Give Away

A mini BIG GIVE from our driveway – by André
Giving away re-conditioned used bikes and doing bike repair from my home driveway on BIG GIVE Saturday.
Friends offered to donate bicycles they had accumulated over the years plus a local church-based men’s organization got on-board with the project.
They spread the word to other parishes(churches) in the west end of Ottawa.
With the three dozen donated bikes, I spent the months of April and May tuning them up in my garage.
Since I also offer free tune-ups on Saturday mornings on my driveway, three neighbourhood teens have been helping out and are being trained in bike repair. These young guys have caught on to the mission and are now donating and fixing bikes for the BIG GIVE.

It seems that people who hear about the project, get excited about it and want to either participate, contribute or suggest needy recipients.
As a result, we have been able to give away three dozen bikes this year, some of them, even before the BIG GIVE date.
Another insight that has come this year…it turns out that one of the bicycle recipients this year, works for the Ottawa police. I am preparing to work with them to see how we can cooperate with kids programs and how the Ottawa police could supply some used bikes. Stay tuned for next year.