Lets help somebody out

Taylor57

Taylor57

Well-Known Member
Last night as I laid in bed propped up with 3 pillows after my hernia surgery I once again realized how truly blessed I am. I still have my health. Yeah, I have to shut my bike rides down for 2 or 3 weeks but I will recover.I have an awesome family including a great 2 year old grandchild. Then it popped into my head. After having been on the board of our local YMCA many years ago, one of our main jobs was to fundraise for the kids and family's that were less priveledged. It was awesome to see the looks on the faces of the kids and moms and dads when the Y gave away 100 bikes and helmets at the holidays.

So why not team with EBR and a LBS in the community of the board or EBRs choice and all pitch in and get a deserving guy/gal/non-profit their own Ebike? If Court and company are down, I am too and would pledge the first $100 bucks towards the cause. I can tell this board is loaded with guys and gals with awesome hearts. Please no religious or political rants-lets just make somebody smile. Remember you can always put me on ignore :)
 
Let me give you my view on this. I live in one of those neighborhoods that get free bikes "every" Xmass. This is what I saw one holiday. A friend rehabs bikes for kids during the year and donates them during the holiday. He got a nicer pre-WalMart Mongoose donated and was getting ready to rehab it. I told him to sell the Mongoose and use the money toward parts, as the Mongoose was much nicer that the usual rehab/donated bikes. He said it was just a bike and gave it a loving rehab. That Xmass I see it pass by my house. The kid down the street got the Mongoose. Within 2 days it was destroyed and his dad had it in the scrap metal pile in the backyard. I understand people fall on hard times but some people need to work for what they want, so they can learn the value of a dollar. That kid could have mowed some lawns for a bicycle if he really wanted one. Its a delicate balance to find someone who will truly use a ebike vs. selling it because they don't want a stupid bike when they really deserve a car. Anything over a rehabbed/Wal Mart bike is to much of a financial risk for most. I donate parts to the local bike rehab for both adults and kids bicycles, and have helped with the rehab when time allows. Lately I've focused on animals, and the local pet shelter has been getting bags of cat litter and cat/dog food.
 
I hear ya Scooter on the fine line, I was thinking more along the lines of maybe the efforts be directed towards that local pet shelter or other non profit that could use the ebike in their day to day operations. Teach a man to fish...
 
sc00ter said:
Let me give you my view on this. I live in one of those neighborhoods that get free bikes "every" Xmass. This is what I saw one holiday. A friend rehabs bikes for kids during the year and donates them during the holiday. He got a nicer pre-WalMart Mongoose donated and was getting ready to rehab it. I told him to sell the Mongoose and use the money toward parts, as the Mongoose was much nicer that the usual rehab/donated bikes. He said it was just a bike and gave it a loving rehab. That Xmass I see it pass by my house. The kid down the street got the Mongoose. Within 2 days it was destroyed and his dad had it in the scrap metal pile in the backyard. I understand people fall on hard times but some people need to work for what they want, so they can learn the value of a dollar. That kid could have mowed some lawns for a bicycle if he really wanted one. Its a delicate balance to find someone who will truly use a ebike vs. selling it because they don't want a stupid bike when they really deserve a car. Anything over a rehabbed/Wal Mart bike is to much of a financial risk for most. I donate parts to the local bike rehab for both adults and kids bicycles, and have helped with the rehab when time allows.
Lately I've focused on animals, and the local pet shelter has been getting bags of cat litter and cat/dog food.
Click to expand...
This is the unfortunate truth and a real-world problem with bike donations in the current environment.
I used to take a large team from my company to the annual Holiday Build-a-Bike event in Silicon Valley.

We would purchase and build over 100 bikes with our volunteers in a day and then donate them to local families for Christmas.
Last year we were shocked to find that a number of our bikes were returned/rejected by kids because they were not good enough.
We will not be participating this year and will now donate to the local food bank and provide free labor for packing and distribution. ;)
 
Taylor57 said:
I hear ya Scooter on the fine line, I was thinking more along the lines of maybe the efforts be directed towards that local pet shelter or other non profit that could use the ebike in their day to day operations.
Teach a man to fish...
Click to expand...
Yup, I would support this cause... Teach a Man to Fish.
Please let us know what you have in mind for the charity.
 
FlatSix911 said:
Yup, I would support this cause... Teach a Man to Fish.
Please let us know what you have in mind for the charity.
Click to expand...

Well, I think the first step would be to identify the best candidate to receive the Ebike. I used to be a little more in touch with the volunteer outfits around our valley but now with the kids gone and my life consisting of serving my clients, ebiking and posting on the EBR forum I'm a bit outa touch. I also am not looking at this to gain any personal recognition, but would think it would be something EBR might consider.
 
Taylor57 said:
Last night as I laid in bed propped up with 3 pillows after my hernia surgery I once again realized how truly blessed I am. I still have my health. Yeah, I have to shut my bike rides down for 2 or 3 weeks but I will recover.I have an awesome family including a great 2 year old grandchild. Then it popped into my head. After having been on the board of our local YMCA many years ago, one of our main jobs was to fundraise for the kids and family's that were less priveledged. It was awesome to see the looks on the faces of the kids and moms and dads when the Y gave away 100 bikes and helmets at the holidays.

So why not team with EBR and a LBS in the community of the board or EBRs choice and all pitch in and get a deserving guy/gal/non-profit their own Ebike? If Court and company are down, I am too and would pledge the first $100 bucks towards the cause. I can tell this board is loaded with guys and gals with awesome hearts. Please no religious or political rants-lets just make somebody smile. Remember you can always put me on ignore :)
Click to expand...

This is a great thought!
If all of us pitch in just $2/ person, then we could purchase a decent E-bike and offer it. This forum gets thousands of visitors and just $2/person would add up to $2000 in a week.
Once Zen E-bikes sells 100 E-bikes, I would be willing to offer one our bikes to a worthy candidate. A student who has a long commute to university or a single parent who walks to their job or someone who is focused on building a good life but is unfortunate. There are lots of hardworking Americans who could use an E-bike.

It reminds me of this story. James Robertson was walking 21 miles everyday and he never missed a day even in the cold winters of Detroit. So, someone who noticed this, shared the story and with the help of a go fund me page, they raised more than $300,000. A local ford dealership offered him a brand new Taurus. If someone is willing to walk 21 miles everyday for 13 years without missing a day, such a human is truly special.

 
Its not really a charity that could use a ebike, its the individual person. I have a RadRunner 1 and have a friend in mind for it when I decide to upgrade. He told me he couldn't use it because he couldn't lift it on the city bus bike rack. If its raining hard he would have to put it on the bus. If something failed he would have to put it on the bus. Its to heavy for him to lift and to heavy for the rack. I gave him my old 26" Fairdale Taj BMX bike that he really likes. When it comes time to replace the 'Runner I'll just donate it to a charity that I support. Taylor57 has the right idea though.
 
in these current times, there a lot of folks that are in dire need of more basic life supporting supplies than an eBike. Food, coats, and basic medical supplies. There are an estimated 40,000 veterans that are homeless, and an estimated 20 veterans die by suicide every day if we need a group to help.
 
rich c said:
in these current times, there a lot of folks that are in dire need of more basic life supporting supplies than an eBike. Food, coats, and basic medical supplies. There are an estimated 40,000 veterans that are homeless, and an estimated 20 veterans die by suicide every day if we need a group to help.
Click to expand...

I hear ya Rich, maybe we could find a Veterans group that provides help for our men and women that could either use an Ebike for day to day activity or raffle it off to generate revenue? Just throwin it out there...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

mschwett
my e-bike story (long!)
Replies
12
Views
3K
dodgeman
dodgeman
Aisakura7
Torn between two bikes
2 3 4
Replies
64
Views
17K
Reserved11
Reserved11
Denis Shelston
Good read, found this in another e-bike discussion..
Replies
5
Views
4K
mojoe
mojoe
Back