There are many ways to help people get back on their feet - one way is to give them a set of wheels.
To that end, the Knights of Columbus Council 5423 is holding a bicycle drive and clinic next weekend.
The Knights of Columbus is comprised of men of the Catholic faith who wish to give back to their communities and support charities. They help organizations like Open Door Group, and are involved in initiatives like the Rotary Coats for Kids coat collection.
Council 5423 is based in Holy Cross Parish and has about 120 members. The drive takes place in the parking lot of Holy Cross School.
“Our council is based at Holy Cross Church, and the school is attached to the church, so it works out very well,” said Graham Darling, who is chairing the project. “It’s accessible to our members who are mostly based in North Burnaby.”
The Knights began holding bike drives in 2006, beginning on the North Shore. They moved the drive to Burnaby three years ago, after a hiatus, he said.
“It was another member who arranged it, it was his inspiration,” Darling said “But once he arranged it, the need was obvious.”
The Knights take bikes of all kinds, for all ages, he added. They have partnered with the Pedal Society, a non-profit that collects the donated bikes.
“That sounded like a really excellent program for the local people in the Vancouver area, who would want to have jobs if they could only get to them, who can’t afford cars or even bus fare,” Darling said. “If they have their own bicycles and are mobile, that would really help them a lot.”
Our Community Bikes, Pedal’s collectively run community bike shop, is in doing the repairs on bikes that come in to the drive. People attending the drive can also bring their own bikes for a tune up.
For this bike drive, Pedal has also partnered with Kickstand, a volunteer-run community bike shop in East Vancouver, and The Bike Kitchen at the University of British Columbia, according to Sophia Suderman, who works with the Pedal Society.
“We’ve brought those other shops on board because we usually work together to try and distribute the bikes and make sure that everything gets utilized to the best of its ability,” she said. “Part of what we do is recycling and refurbish old bicycles.
The bikes are divided into different categories, according to Suderman.
“So there are a few different streams that those bikes will go into. Some of them will go to our Pedals for the People program, which is a free bike program for people who can’t afford their own bikes. Another stream that some of them may go into is that they may be refurbished to bring in some revenue as part of our social enterprise,” she said. “Depending on the state of the bike, some of them may be stripped down and recycled.”
It’s all a part of Pedal’s efforts to get people pedalling.
“Pedal’s a non-profit organization that promotes education, empowerment and accessibility for people to make cycling part of their daily lives,” Suderman said.
People are invited to bring bikes of all kinds, including tricycles, and bike parts to the Knights of Columbus bike drive at Holy Cross School, 1450 Delta Ave., on Saturday, May 12 between 9:30 a.m. and 3 p.m.
