Hmm, I'm sympathetic to the critique but trying to shift my way of thinking into one that opens up to new possibilities. Thanks for all the input!

On Fri, Mar 14, 2014 at 1:42 PM, Karen Overton <director@recycleabicycle.org> wrote:

Hi,
My experience with these offers is that corporations don't want to integrate their "goodness" into development work. Donating a bike built by adults to kids who are expected to earn a bike undermines the whole premise of the Recycle-A-Bicycle model.

If it were structured to create a job for teens in our program, then I would be much more enthusiastic about this. I know of one group that negotiated this type of arrangement. I would support and welcome this opportunity. However, the 2 corporations I spoke with were only interested in their staff building the bikes and paying a professional to supervise. Perhaps if it happened over the holidays and only small childrens' bikes were built, I could this as a community service project, and the donation of tools would be the incentive to participate. I still prefer to hold out for a development model.

Karen

On Fri, Mar 14, 2014 at 12:47 PM, Bob Giordano <mist@strans.org> wrote:

We find great success, longevity and community building when the kids are
involved in building and tuning up the bikes, and even better when the
parent(s) have a role too. They do this at our shop, and it gets them
familiar with our community resource.

Maybe the corporate folks get be teamed with a kid/family?

-Bob Giordano, Free Cycles Missoula

Adonia Lugo wrote:
> Dear collectivistas,
> I'm looking for advice from folks who use bike repair as a community
> building tool. What do you think about building bikes as a corporate team
> building exercise? I work for the League of American Bicyclists, and
> someone pitched a project to us called Bikes for Goodness
> Sake<http://bikesforgoodnesssake.org/>

> that does this; they have teams build kids' bikes and then give them away
> at the end of the day. The dude doing this, Mark Smith, wants to partner
> with the League in some capacity to help hire a staff person who could
> coordinate these activities around the country, including hiring local
> mechanics to do quality control and connecting with local kids' groups.
> Does this seem weird to you? I told my boss I'd ask around about this
> model
> because something about it raises my hackles a little. I like the idea of
> paying local mechanics to participate, and it seems like there could be a
> more formal relationship with co-ops or community bike shops as partners.
> Then maybe participating in an activity like this could be an avenue for
> the corporate types to get involved with the bike community. At the same
> time, I'm wary of a model that frames needy kids as some tool for
> corporate
> team building.
> Let me know if you have any questions or thoughts.
>
> Thanks!
> --
> Adonia E. Lugo, Ph.D.
> Bicycle Anthropologist
> www.urbanadonia.com

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