While Parkites and other local residents in the Wasatch Back usually ride bikes for recreation and health, those who live in Sierra Leone and Ghana have a different reason, said Parkite Jamie May, Village Bicycle Project board member.
“Much of their daily time is consumed in commuting to work or school,” he said. “So why not help them cut their commute time by donating bicycles that could help them get to school or work faster, which would free up more time for them to study, be at work or attending crops?”
To help with this mission, the Village Bicycle Project, a nonprofit organization, will host Bikes for Africa, a bike collection drop off, from 9 a.m-1 p.m. on Saturday, May 6, at Canyons Cabriolet parking lot, May said.
“We will take any bike in usable condition — kids and adult models even if old,” he said. “Mountain bikes are the best, and the reason why those types of bikes are still kicking around in people’s garages in Park City is because they are really well built.”
Road bikes will also be accepted, according to May.
“We will generally retire and retube them to make them ready for dirt roads and paths, but the bread-and-butter of our collections are old, rigid mountain bikes, even those without suspension,” he said. “Those are the bikes that our mechanics know how to maintain.”
The collection event will also accept used parts, including tires, tube, and cycling clothing in decent shape, May said.
“Every now and then someone will say they have a box of 26-inch tubes or tires,” he said. “That’s what we need, because that’s what goes into replacing parts from most of the bikes.”
Even old, beat-up, non-working bikes will be accepted, May said.
“We are teaching people how to take care of their bikes as well, and we can always use these old bikes for parts,” he said. “Having access to parts is part of the process.”
Sometimes someone will donate a bike that is so well maintained that the Village Bicycle Project will sell it to raise funds to help cover shipping costs to Africa.
“That doesn’t happen all that often — maybe two or three out of 100 bikes we collect, we will sell,” he said. “And when we do that, we always make sure we let people who donate these bikes (know) that we will sell it, but not for profiteering. We make sure the money goes to shipping.”
Speaking of shipping costs, the Village Bicycle Project also asks for a suggested $20 donation that accompanies each bike drop off, May said.
Four years ago, shipping a single container to Africa cost about $3,500, but now the cost ranges between $8,000 and $13,000, according to May.
“We are finding the additional $20 is very important for our mission to get the bikes to the people who need them,” he said. “The donations are tax deductible, and we will provide a receipt.”
If anyone wants to donate a bike, but can’t make it to the May 6 event, May would like them to contact him directly by calling 801-633-1676.
“We can make arrangements for other drop-offs, or we can make arrangements for me to come pick up the bike,” he said.
Once the bikes and parts are collected in Park City, they are transported to a shipping container in Salt Lake City, according to May.
“Each time we have collected bikes in Park City, we’ve picked up maybe 125 each year, and 125 bikes fill a quarter of the shipping container,” he said. “We also receive bikes from other partners throughout the year.”
Once the container is filled with approximately 450 bikes, it is transported to a train that takes it to either Houston or New Orleans, May said.
“From there a truck takes the container to a port where a ship will take it to Africa,” he said.
The Village Bicycle Project was started in 199 by a returned Peace Corps volunteer, David Peckham, May said.
“He was doing a lot of work in Africa building houses, and while he was there, he realized a lot of what was holding back community growth was access to cheap transportation to get people to their jobs and schools in remote areas where there are few cars and no roads,” he said. “David was a bike guy, and thought every garage in so many towns in the United States would have functional bikes that aren’t being ridden. So he thought why not send those bikes to Africa and transform someone’s life.”
By late 2022, the Village Bicycle Project, which is now led by Executive Director Joshua Poppel, has sent more than 134,000 bikes to Ghana and Sierra Leone, and the nonprofit has trained more than 22,000 people in bicycle maintenance and repair. In addition, more than 4,000 women and girls have learned to ride bikes, and the project has distributed more than 60,000 tools to help keep these bikes rolling, according to villagebicycleproject.org.
May 6 will be the third year the Village Bicycle Project has hosted a bike drop-off in Park City, May said.
“For the most part, we think about bikes in terms of recreation here in Park City, so the idea of these well-built and awesome bikes getting a second life rooted in practicalities and human development is mind-blowing,” he said. “Very few of us rely on a bike in the way the people in Africa do. So when you give a bike to a person in Africa, they suddenly have two or three extra hours that can be used for other life-sustaining activities.”