The Bike Shop: Local Man Will Use Bicycles To Change Lives

Bob Sanders had careers in journalism and public relations before retiring to the Pacific Northwest. He worked for the Chicago Tribune , Field Enterprises (Chicago Sun-Times/Daily News), public television, Playboy and TV Guide plus other newspapers. His weekly blog, Sidebars, may be found at http://sidebars.typepad.com

Matt Velguth is a man on a nonprofit mission, built around his knowledge that at-risk kids can have their lives dramatically changed because of bicycles.

Velguth’s project, The Bike Shop, is being put together in the Sterling Neighborhood located immediately northwest of Bellis Fair in the Guide Meridian/Cordata Neighborhood. A 35-by-10-foot trailer, donated by Rolling Wheels Construction, was positioned in March on Church of Christ land in a community whose population consists largely of farm laborers. Velguth is currently making the rounds writing grants, shaking hands and seeking donations so that he can resume what he did among low-income kids in Portland, Maine.

It was in a tough neighborhood there that The Bike Shop really came to fruition. An educator with a Bachelor of Science in Education (1990) earned at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Velguth recalls a June day in 2004 when he put a sandwich board outside the basement shop.

“A few dozen kids came in. The next day, a few dozen more showed up. By the end of the summer, we’d served 280 kids, and it was up to 500 by the end of the year, all through word of mouth,” Velguth said.

Kennedy Park, the neighborhood chosen by Velguth in Portland, bears a number of similarities to the Sterling Neighborhood here. At the core is economic poverty that exposes children to much higher than average risks of social and physical failure. The greatest problem facing children who grow up in an economically subsidized household is an inability to move on from a social morass where their parents have located.

Before the Portland experience, Velguth worked more than 15 years in prisons plus urban and rural settings with youth and underprivileged populations. Included was the creation of the Bike Shop model and its first pilot run for a native population in Labrador, Canada.

In Velguth’s current program, the bicycle offers children independence, a new point in life where one is no longer dependent on the adult with a car.

“This is an idea that children do not need to be sold on; they already love bicycles,” he said. “The bike is enjoyed by every child. What else is so universally attractive to young people?”

Understanding the attraction of bicycles for children, Velguth works with police in obtaining them for the foundation of his program.

“In the beginning,” Velguth said, “kids started to bring in bikes they had ‘found’ and they probably had. Someone might have taken the bike and then discarded it by the road. It’s my job to explain to them that finding something does not make it yours. I offer to hold the bike until we can return it to its owner or get it to the police. Then I can show them the bikes we have and tell them that they can have one of those for less than it might cost to repair the bike they brought in.”

While obtaining and maintaining a bicycle is a key factor, what sets The Bike Shop apart are the primary elements of its design; Access, Expectations, and Responsibility.

The Bike Shop will be open 50 weeks of the year during as yet to be determined shop hours to any school-age Bellingham child who decides to walk in the door. The Shop will be there when they need or want it: when he or she has a flat tire, when his or her bike has been stolen or when the child needs a safe place to go and feel secure or valued. The success of the program is measured many ways including the frequency and number of visits, miles ridden, and retention of participants as they grow older.

Expectations are extremely high at The Bike Shop. Those expectations involve self-discipline and courtesy. There is no food, no furniture to slouch upon and no rock music. The only punishment at the Shop is denial of access to the Shop or weekend rides. There is no list of ground rules for participant behavior but the principles are clear: no running people down and no rude language. All members are expected to be helpful and cooperative.

It all comes down to responsibility. Velguth knows that taking on responsibility is its own reward.

“It’s a habit-forming behavior necessary to anyone who will escape the ties and tendrils of the subsidized life,” he said. “Resentment is the child of dependency and everyone living subsidized lives has a chip of it on their shoulder waiting for the smallest reason to be expressed in petty acts of destruction, chaos and vandalism.”

Besides helping kids earn, maintain and repair bicycles, locks, helmets and parts, Velguth also plans weekly rides. In the summer, there are three rides for differing abilities as well as a tri-athlete team. The rides will take place all year round no matter what the weather—or at least that’s what the kids in Portland requested.

“Even on cold, nasty days, the kids dragged me out,” Velguth said.

One of the most rewarding aspects of The Bike Shop is its role in dealing with the problem of obesity. Velguth recalls one very overweight youngster who entered The Bike Shop Program as a 10-year-old. A Cambodian American, he shed a great deal of weight becoming a member of the program’s tri-athlete team. In his last two years, he competed in an Olympic-length event that included a mile swim in the Atlantic, a 25-mile bike leg and a 10k run.

“It was amazing to see him turn it around and develop the stamina that those feats took,” Velguth said.

Budgetary short-falls, long a problem among nonprofits in Maine’s largest city, forced the Shop’s closure in 2008. While Velguth has moved the project 3,000 miles to the west, he is once again working with the teen tri-athletes in Portland, this time by phone and e-mail to coordinate their training and competition under the name, “The Bike Shop Boys.”

“Closing the Shop in Portland was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made,” Velguth said. “It’s great to see the team revive there while we’re getting another Shop off the ground on the opposite coast.”

Meanwhile, Velguth is preparing The Bike Shop work space and looking forward to a May 15 Bike Swap at the Sportsplex, 1225 Civic Field Way. The collaborative effort with local bike clubs and shops will help raise money for The Bike Shop while offering the public a venue to buy and sell their bikes. It’s a great way to get a good deal on a used bike or sell an extra one gathering dust. Bikes can be dropped off 5 to 8 p.m. the day before the event or until 10 a.m. the next day.

For further information, check The Bike Shop’s Web site at http://www.thebikeshop1.org or contact thebikeshop1@gmail.com. §