We work with teens, too: The Emerald Necklace Conservancy partnership

Heading out to the SW Corridor path.

Until recently, all of our bike giveaways have been for small children, thanks to the generous ongoing bike donations of IBC.  But we've also been receiving many great adult bikes from all our generous donors out there.  Once they're fixed up, we partner with local Boston organizations to ensure that they go to groups of people who can use them.

Our first donation to a group of teens was through a partnership with The Emerald Necklace Conservancy.  Earlier this month, 7 young adults from their Youth Leadership Program received bikes from Roll it Forward and two solid days of on-bike instruction from our partner Bikes Not Bombs.




A recap and photos of the first day:  http://encgreenteam.wordpress.com/2011/03/09/ylp-receives-bikes-through-roll-it-forward/

And the second day: http://encgreenteam.wordpress.com/2011/03/31/roll-it-forward-bikes-not-bombs-day-2/

Learning how to fix a flat at Bikes Not Bombs

-images courtesy of the Emerald Necklace Conservancy.

Rolling into Roxbury



Joseantonio Santos, of Bikes Not Bombs helps a young girl navigate her new bike.



Thanks to everyone who attended our last bike giveaway in Roxbury, and thanks to the Orchard Garden Community Center for hosting.  The Boston Globe online ran an article on the program here, and there's an additional gallery of photos here. 

Mayor Menino encourages a captivated new rider to always wear his helmet!

This bike giveaway could not have been possible without the generosity and community-mindedness of International Bike Centers.  All bikes distributed at this event came from their long-standing "trade-up" program of children's bikes. 

We also want to tip our hat to all the volunteers who showed up, especially our partners at Bikes Not Bombs, who brought a spirited energy and dedicated crew of youth to help set up the event and to teach the young kids safe bike handling skills.

Teenagers: bring your bike and get a leg up

Coming up this Sunday, February 13th, we're proud to be collaborating with the fourth annual TeenLife Community Service Fair.  At this exciting event, students and their families will meet face-to-face with representatives from 50 non-profits and find out about a wide range of volunteer opportunities for students in grades 7-12.

We'll have a booth at the fair to collect donated bikes from participants.  If you're attending, keep that old bike out of a landfill and donate it to our Roll it Forward program!  We're sure you have some old bikes collecting dust in the basement, or some bikes that the teens have outgrown.  We take those bikes, fix them up, and get them to people in the Boston community that could really use a bike.  All styles of bikes are welcome, and it's ok if bikes need minor repairs.

As an added bonus, when you donate a bike you'll get a free bike jersey and water bottle!
If your family has some bikes to clean out of the house, bring them out to the Mall at Chestnut Hill in Newton. Be sure to park at the upper level of the mall:  enter through the main entrance of the 2nd level.  This will prevent you from having to lug the bike(s) up the escalators.

To attend, preregister here:
TeenLife Community Service Fair
Sunday, February 13th, 2011
12-4 PM
Mall at Chestnut Hill, 199 Boylston St., Newton MA

Questions?  Email rollitforward[at]gmail[dot]com.

Sugarcoat your bike...after donating your other bike.

Sugarcoat by Geekhouse Bikes is sponsoring a powder coat raffle to help spur more bike donations!  When you donate a high-quality* bike to Roll it Forward, you will be entered into a raffle for one of 5 free powder coat and priming packages being offered by Geekhouse Bikes.  Look at the beautiful work they can do for your old bike and then read below the slideshow for more information about the promotion.

Progress So Far

Roll it Forward is rolling along toward our goal to distribute 1000 bikes.  To date, we have collected over 600 bikes (many still awaiting repair), and have already distributed over 250 bikes to kids across Boston.  The program isn't just for kids, though, and this Spring we will start to host bike distributions for adults. 

To give you the best idea of what our kids bike giveaways are like, it's a great time to introduce you to Thom Parsons, from our partner shop International Bicycle Centers.  Thom's quite a character: an excellent mechanic, a *really* fast bike racer, and an all around great guy.

It also happens that Thom is a talented writer.  In addition to writing professionally for bikerumor.com, he has written a set of very entertaining blog posts chronicling a mechanic's life behind the scenes of every bike giveaway.  His posts and photos are some of the best reports of what we do for each giveaway. 

Thom Parsons

• Photos: Read Thom's post about the Holland School donation back in June: 
• His report from the Alice Taylor donation with Mayor Menino.
• What it takes to prep all those bikes
• A great post and photos from our recent bike donations in Dorchester and Hyde Park: 

Our work has also garnered national attention by being featured in First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move Newsletter!  Let's Move is a national campaign to reduce childhood obesity, and Roll it Forward is proud to be part of the effort here in Boston.

Back Bay Bicycles joins the team!

Great news for everyone in the heart of Boston: Back Bay Bicycles on Commonwealth Ave. has joined Roll it Forward as our newest shop partner.  They are ready to start receiving donated bikes and like our other shop partners, they're offering a thank-you coupon for customers who donate. 

So, if you live in the Back Bay or simply have a good relationship with their shop, stop on by and say hi to Dave, Mike or their other staff members who took an interest in Roll it Forward and decided they wanted to be a part of it.  Their Boston store is at the corner of Commonwealth Ave. and Mass Ave. 

The other good news is that with this partnership, there's also now an outlet to donate in New Hampshire!  Back Bay's partner shop, Papa Wheelies in Portsmouth, NH can also receive bicycle donations, so if you live up North and want to donate, take your bike in and they'll make sure it finds its way down to us.

Powered by Pedro's

Last Fall, Pedro's Total Bicycle Care heard about Roll it Forward and asked what they could do to help.  They're an extremely conscientious company with strong New England roots, based just up the road in Haverhill, MA.

With so many bikes to refurbish, our project needed repair stands, tools, and bike cleaning supplies.  Pedro's has supplied these items and we're already using them to get hundreds bikes in proper shape before we get them out on the road again.

But they're not stopping there.  They don't just sell products, they know how to get their hands dirty.  Pedro's has a long history of providing mechanical support at the Grassroots level for all kinds of bike events.  So they're taking an active role in helping us out: helping to coordinate other local mechanics and perhaps even turning some of their own wrenches for some of the Roll it Forward bikes.  Thanks, Pedro's, for all your support!