Watsonville Bike Shack
the problem:
Watsonville is a rural agricultural town on the Central Coast of California. There are many farmworkers and families here who need rides to work. Also, there is a lot of obesity in the community and not many jobs for youth. The Watsonville Bike Shack teaches people how to fix their bike each Friday at the Farmer's Market. We have a space in the market and we provide tools and instruction to people on fixing their bikes. Also, we promote healthy living and bike riding to people of all ages. We give at least three bikes away each week. We accept donated bikes from the community and fix them up and give them back for free or at a very low cost.
vital stats:
people impacted:
700people involved:
15why it's important:
We pay 3 youth to train as bike mechanics. That provides a job and training in a skill that can be used to get a better job in the future. We also give away and promote bike riding which helps stop obesity in our families. The Bike Shack also helps people with transportation so they can get to work on time and be safe.
the plan of action:
We created the Watsonville Bike Shack with a lot of volunteer hours and the support of an organization in Santa Cruz called the Bike Church. For almost two years we have been building this program together. They gave us our first tools and had their mechanics train our youth in basic bike repair. Last year we received a small grant which enables us to pay 3 youth $20.00 a week to work at the Farmers Market for a four hour shift. We have made a huge impact. Everyone loves our project, a lot of people give us their old bikes. Every week we help people at the Farmer's Market and they look for us! We have given away many bikes to children and young adults. We have had a warehouse donated to the Bike Shack so we have a place to fix and store the bikes. Art is also created at the warehouse. We also would like to hold classes and workshops in the future at our warehouse.
how you can get involved:
People can donate bikes to us or they can donate money so we can start to organize bike and art workshops for the community.
project updates:
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