ReBicycle gets rolling in Wellington
Wellington is the latest town to get its very own bike library and community bicycle upcycling scheme. ReBicycle Charitable Trust was founded recently to help collect used bikes and fix them up for refugees and other low income families. ‘So far the response has been fantastic with more donations than we have room for’, said project manager, Hilleke Townsend. ‘There’s been great help from the community as well, with Red Cross keen to help their refugee families get mobile and other organisations also showing interest’.
ReBicycle has two primary aims: to help people with limited incomes lower their expenses by having the choice to bike for some or all of their trips; and to help children and their families enjoy cycling for its own sake, with the added benefit of it being good for their health and development. Wellington City Council has come on board, providing brand new helmets to each new bike owner. Pedal Ready is offering free cycle skills to all bike recipients. And local bike shops have shown their support through generous discounts, donating bikes and collecting donations. The project is supported by Cycle Aware Wellington.
'There’s something special about seeing a kid ride a bike for the first time, and being able to do that on their own bike is pretty amazing,' said Hilleke. 'As a cycle skills instructor I’ve had the privilege of teaching many kids to ride, but some of those kids won’t have another chance to ride again for a while.
ReBicycle aims to create more opportunities for those kids.'
ReBicycle is also building up a Bike Library which will be available to certain community organisations and at events to help give people more opportunities to learn to ride.
ReBicycle is seeking donations of decent quality (fixable) bikes, especially children’s bikes, and also pumps, toolkits and accessories. These can be dropped off to Bicycle Junction, Burkes Cycles, iRIDE, Mud Cycles or the Sustainability Trust. Volunteers are also needed to help fix and collect bikes.
Find Re-Bicycle here: Rebicycle.nz
Or on social media: https://www.facebook.com/ReBicycleWellington/
[Images from Bicycle Nelson Bays]