Donated bikes start journey to Africa
Village Bike Project started by Moscow, Idaho, native
The pile of bicycles climbed row after row, 15 bikes high in the back of the moving truck.
Stacks of mountain bikes, 10-speeds and three-speeds melded together last week in a rainbow of blue, purple, black, yellow and green.
Behind the truck a group of about 10 dedicated Pedals2People volunteers lowered bicycle seats, removed pedals and wrenched handlebars so that they would temporarily sit parallel to the bikes’ frames. In short they did anything to make the 200 bikes more compact and easier to load for transport to Seattle, and eventually to Africa.
“I’m getting into the groove,” said Pedals2People volunteer John Speare as he arranged the bikes in tidy stacks.
The bicycles were donated by people across Spokane, Spokane Valley and North Idaho over the past year.
“We knew there were a lot of unused bikes in Spokane,” said Liza Mattana, president of the Pedals2People board of directors. “People were happy to move them out of their garages and on to people who would need them.”
The bikes were driven over to Seattle last weekend where they were added to another few hundred donated there. Total cost to Pedals2People will be about $500.
The bicylces will be shipped to Ghana, where they will be used by villagers without access to cars or other transportation.
The work is part of a multicity nonprofit effort called the Village Bike Project.
Village Bike Project participants aren’t given the bikes, they purchase them. That’s to encourage maintenance and acknowledge the bicycles’ value.
They are taught how to ride the bikes, if necessary, and how to perform basic repairs.
“They will use flip-flop pieces as brake pads and stitch up holes in the tires,” Mattana said.
Mountain bikes are most useful since the village roads in Ghana are unpaved.
A documentary about the project filmed by Moscow, Idaho, native David Peckham was shown this year at North Idaho College and in Spokane.
Peckham started the Village Bike Project in 1999.
“It was really inspiring. We wanted to be part of that,” Mattana said.
Local businesses also aided in the effort, including Mountain Gear which provided storage space for the bicycles.
Pedals2People hosted drop-off events in the Perry District of the South Hill, the West Central Neighborhood, Ron’s Drive-In in Spokane Valley and more locations.
“Sometimes we’d see a nice one come in and I’d think, ‘Someone is going to be happy to get this bike,’ ” Mattana said.
Mattana said that collecting bicycles for the Village Bike Project was a huge task for Pedals2People, which was formed in spring 2007. There aren’t any plans now to collect more bikes for Africa, but the group will continue to work with people in Spokane to encourage bicycle riding for sustainable transportation.