Finally an answer based in wisdom and emotional intelligence on the one hand. 

On the other hand there is that thing, that aspect called business and or liability. 

If a person is down on their luck, regardless if they are there due to life or their own poor choices, and they find a way to use the resources of the coop in a manner to sustain or build their own circumstance, as long as it is not at the expense of the coop, then what is the harm or issue? 

If, on the other hand, if they are stealing or taking under false pretense, or reselling in such a manner that the coop could be implicated in a legal issue...then there is reason to stop it.

Here is a whole other way to perhaps take advantage of the entire circumstance.  Does your state or community have a judicial system, or a community court or a community mediation program?  Does the state or community fund "diversionary programs" for offenders or as an alternative incarceration program?  If so, why not look into setting up a program within your coop's programs for youthful or first time offenders?  Perhaps you might even cooperatively establish a volunteer training reentry training program for those who've been incarcerated for a short time for a minor crime. 

Just thoughts...  



-----Original Message-----
From: Vernon Huffman <vernonhuffman@yahoo.com>
To: james bledsoe <jamesbleds0e@yahoo.com>; The Think Tank <thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org>
Sent: Tue, Oct 15, 2013 12:22 am
Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Questionable customers

We get so many bikes donated that we end up recycling the majority of them. How does it harm me or the organization if an unemployed person figures out how to fix up a bike and sells it? Our goals are to have more people understand bicycle repair and more bikes on the street.


From: james bledsoe

yikes,   my suggestion is that you step up the program and make the earning of  a bike real work. Like build two the first one becomes closer to being a rideable bike and they can have the second, also put a limit on the number of bikes per mouth or year that can be gotten that way.


On Monday, October 14, 2013 3:59 PM, Vernon Huffman <vernonhuffman@yahoo.com> wrote:
First off, we need to recognize that none of us is perfect and each of us has the capacity to do something worthwhile, even if life has been especially rough so far. I'm not here to judge anybody. If you're nice to me and help build the organization, we can work together.

Then again, I'm a volunteer. I don't owe you anything. If you want help getting your ride together, you'd better be respectful to everybody around here. We want everybody to learn to fix bikes and apply that knowledge toward putting more bikes onto the streets. If you want to join in that effort, there's always room, but if you've got a bigger problem to deal with, go do that first.

_______________________________________________



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