Vecinos del Bosque
Neighborhood Association
New,
July 2004. Vecinos del Bosque is happy to announce the
Neighborhood Association is working with city and county entities to
provide refurbished bicycles to deserving students. Donations of
bicycles and bicycle parts have been coming into the Neighborhood
Association from local residents. The Bernalillo Sheriff's
Department has been helping to recylce old bicycles through area clean-ups. For a
monetary donation and/or parts contact Richard Rivas, President, pager 968-3444 or 831-6246,
rivas395@aol.com - George Montoya 269-1321
Vecinos del Bosque
Neighborhood Association
PO Box 12841,
ABQ, NM 87195
Changing
a Neighborhood, One Bike at a Time, Astrid Webster : From Nuestro Pueblo, Fall, 2004
Recent Article August 24, 2004:
Bicycles Recycled, Donated for Area Poor
By Barbara Armijo
Journal Staff Writer
Richard Rivas has a thing about two wheels— he sees opportunity in the oldest and rustiest bicycles around.
And he's on a mission to see that kids— and adults, too— who want to get around on two wheels have the bicycles to do it.
The Community Bike Recycling Program starts when a volunteer picks up a rickety, rusty old bike that has not been used in years.
It ends when someone puts on a helmet and rides off on one that is fixed, clean and safe.
The bike recycling program is a grass-roots effort started by Richard Rivas and the Vecinos del Bosque Neighborhood Association.
Vecinos works with the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department and
BikeABQ to get bike donations, fix old bikes and get them to people who
cannot afford to buy them. The program's partner is the Albuquerque
Alliance for Active Living, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation, to promote healthy lifestyles.
BikeAQB is a nonprofit bicycle advocacy group also working with the alliance.
After Rivas or one of his volunteer bicycle mechanics is finished with an old bike, they are usually ready to ride.
Safety first
The program is not "Pimp My Ride" for bicycles, however.
The bikes look nice, but they are not turned into those fancy showcase
bikes. More importantly, riders who get these bikes also get lessons on
the rules of the road.
"Everyone that gets a bike from us will go through a bike safety
class," Rivas, president of the neighborhood association, said. "This
program takes care of every aspect of biking because we believe it's
important."
Astrid Webster, a volunteer with BikeABQ, said she appreciates that
Vecinos volunteers are not only putting people on bikes, but are
promoting safety on the roads.
"We want to be sure that when a child gets a bike, he or she knows to
ride on the right side of the street, to stop at the end of the
driveway and to wear a helmet," she said. "We don't want any of these
bikes to go out until the riders have helmets."
Rivas said the program, like many of the bikes he has collected, still needs lots of help.
"We need volunteers, donations of tubes, tires and supplies and
helmets," he said. "We are trying to contact civic organizations that
are interested in helping us."
There's a lot that goes on before a bike is ready to ride.
"Some of the bikes can only be used for parts," Rivas said. "Others just need a tire, tube and some mechanical fixes."
The focus of the program is clear to Rivas.
"This is our way of getting people riding again," he said. "It's good
for everyone when that happens— the environment stays cleaner, there's
less traffic and people improve their health."
Kids without bikes
Rivas got the idea for the program last year after he organized a bike
safety class at Valle Vista Elementary School in the South Valley's
Atrisco neighborhood. The neighborhood association has put on several
bike rodeos at the school where kids participated in safety and riding
competitions.
When Rivas realized there were children who didn't have bikes because
their families couldn't afford them, he worked on getting donations.
The Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department got involved when deputy
Tina Padilla, who patrols in the South Valley, told Rivas there were
often people who threw away used bicycles during neighborhood cleanups.
"We started collecting them," Rivas said. "We would take them to a guy
who fixed them up and gave them to Toys for Tots. He could only fix
about eight or nine of them a year."
So Rivas decided more volunteers were needed.
"Heck, we got 65 bikes from the first community cleanup we had," Rivas said.
A Vecinos member, George Adams, offered a building to store the bikes until they are repaired.
Rivas contacted BikeABQ and became a trainer on teaching bike safety
and learning how to fix bicycles. Since he started collecting bikes
last year, he has received more than 200 in various stages of
disrepair, Rivas said.
Mentorship program
Now Rivas has big plans for the program. He wants to start a mentorship
program for students at Rio Grande High School to learn to fix the
bikes.
"We will always take bikes in good condition," Rivas said. "Especially
now because we have to be able to afford the parts to get most of them
working."
Rivas has written letters to New Mexico's Congressional delegation in
hopes that money can be found for the program. They don't know exactly
how much money they will need, but every helmet they buy or get donated
means another bicycle gets put on the road, Rivas said. He is waiting
to hear from the West Side/South Valley Weed and Seed program, which
promotes neighborhood safety.
"If you know someone who cannot afford a bike and would like one, please contact me," Rivas said.
Some of the main benefactors of the program will be students at Valle
Vista and children at Peanut Butter and Jelly Therapeutic Childcare, he
said.
"I've had a few people contact me from outreach at the battered women's
shelters," he said. "I'm looking for people who could use the bikes."
How To Help
More information about BikeABQ can be found online at www.bikeabq.org. To donate bikes, equipment or funding for the program, page Richard Rivas at 968-3444.
We are in need of donations of bicycle helmets. Thank you.
Images of some of the bicycles:
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