[TheThinkTank] getting and holding onto volunteers?

[Velocipede Bike Project]

If there is a college in the area, Hurry, it is the end of the semester
and prime bike collecting season!!! Many students throw away all sorts of
things, including their(often rather nice) bicycles.  Go to the security
office and ask that any bikes left at the campus be collected for you. 
Also put up some fliers around campus asking students to donate bikes
instead of throwing them away.

Also you might try organizing a drive in conjunction with a local church
or  community group. If you hit a well off neighorhood most of them have
bikes sitting in their garage they would love to get rid of.

At Velocipede getting bikes is the least of our troubles!!!  We do have
trouble getting them built fast enough though, if anyone can give me
advice on that it would be appreciated.  I'm glad to actually have
soemthing to offer to the list, because mostly i just lap up what everyone
else has to say.  i'm excited for Bike Bike, I hope to come with a
contingent from Baltimore and lots of questions!!

-beth
Velocipede bike Project
baltimore, md

> I can coordinate this and get it to be mostly sharing, brainstorming and
> writing up lists of ideas, discussing what does and does not work.  I'll
> post it on the bike!bike! website.  Meanwhile, let's start a list
> somewhere
> on the bikecollectives website where we can gather ideas for keeping
> volunteers.  Simple personpower is always one of our biggest problems at
> The
> Recyclery as well.
>
> We've mostly done hands-on teaching to try and get people feeling
> comfortable with the tools, but we combine it with food and fun times
> (bike-in movies are on the way) and a new "secret" time to use the shop
> for
> regular volunteers so they feel like they get a kick-back for their hard
> work. (This also functions as a casual party-ish time in the shop when we
> can all hang out and work on our own bikes.)
>
> On another note: can I ask people for more suggestions on where to get
> bikes?  Right now we have a shortage.  Our usual avenues are police
> confiscations, individual donors, apartment buildings storage rooms
> getting
> cleaned out.  Sometimes we get them from alleyways or scrappers.  Do
> others
> have ideas for regular avenues of bike donations?
>
> Thanks all!  Looking forward to seeing you again/meeting you at Bikebike!,
> Sharlyn
>
> On 5/15/07, Jessica McPherson <jessica_mcp at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>> sounds like a good idea for a workshop at bike!bike!
>> I bet it would be a great discussion if different
>> groups all offered their suggestions & experience.
>> Anyone want to coordinate?
>>
>> -Jessica
>> (Free Ride)
>>
>> --- Macho Philipovich <macho at resist.ca> wrote:
>>
>> >
>> > we've been having a similar experience at the bike
>> > dump.  a few folks
>> > stuck around from our volunteer workshop series this
>> > spring, but not as
>> > many as i'd hoped.  volunteer pot lucks and special
>> > events have worked
>> > all right at getting new folks feeling comfortable
>> > in the space, in
>> > getting older volunteers to come back who haven't
>> > been around for a
>> > while, and generally helping volunteers to feel
>> > appreciated and like the
>> > shop is a fun space.  but all in all, i think we
>> > also need more and
>> > better strategies.  i'd be really interested in
>> > hearing in things others
>> > have tried, or even ideas about what else might
>> > work.
>> >
>> > macho
>> > http://bike-dump.ca
>> >
>> > rachael spiewak wrote:
>> > > hiya, folks.
>> > >
>> > > something sopo's always struggled with is finding
>> > volunteers and
>> > > convincing them to stay.  many people who visit
>> > our shop would rather
>> > > have a hands on demonstration than look up how to
>> > do repairs in our
>> > > manuals.  we tried having a few bike maintenance
>> > 101 classes to get
>> > > people feeling like they have the capacity to help
>> > others with basic
>> > > repairs, but that didn't stick.  does anyone have
>> > ideas or experience
>> > > in this department?  or is it sufficient for us to
>> > tell people that
>> > > reading about repairs in our manuals is part of
>> > their process at our
>> > > shop?  i tend to doubt the success rate of the
>> > last one.  i'm thinking
>> > > food incentives might be a good idea.
>> > >
>> > > love/peace/bicyclegrease,
>> > > rachael
>> > >
>> >
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> > >
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>> >
>>
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>> > >
>> >
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>> >
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>>
>>
>>
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