Quote Originally Posted by shootingstar View Post
How many bikes will your organization be shipping out overseas?.
Quote Originally Posted by Tuckervill View Post
Can you tell me more about earn-a-bike? How do they earn it?
Shootingstar, about 6,000 bikes a year are shipped oversees. They are all donated bikes, most are lower-end, but some are newish good bikes. MTBs are especially desireable for shipping. Close to another 1,000 bikes are used for the earn-a-bike program and reconditioned and sold in the bike shop. If the frames are damaged they are stripped and the parts are shipped overseas of the programs to use to repair bikes locally. If the parts are trash we try to send as much as possible to re-cycling programs, especially the aluminum.

Karen, the kids earn their bikes by coming after school 4 days a week for a 5 week class, where they learn bike safety and mechanics. They sign in and out of class. Those class and ride time hours count toward their bike but most of them choose a bike that requires some hours being spent as a volunteer, helping get bikes ready to ship. Disassembling bikes gives them more mechanical experience, and helping to load the shipping containers gives them a sense of giving to others that are in greater need than themselves. Many of the kids go on to the advanced EAB to build another bike, and qualify to be a youth instructor. Some will enroll in the vocational course to train as bike mechanics. Grads of that are hired by the local shops or work in the BNB shop where they recondition used bikes for sale and do repair work just as in any other shop. Here's a link http://www.bikesnotbombs.org/youth