We are pleased to announce that the Working Bikes Board of Directors has named Phil Kaplan as its new President. Phil was selected at the March 13 meeting of the Board, after Working Bikes’ founder and former Board President Lee Ravenscroft stepped down.

Phil, formerly the Board’s Vice President, has volunteered at Working Bikes for five years and has been on the Board for two years. Prior to Working Bikes, Phil worked at the Environmental Protection Agency for thirty-plus years. He became involved with Working Bikes, as many volunteers have, after helping out at “shipping party.” Phil soon became a regular face at our volunteer bike repair sessions and at Working Bikes events. Today he is particularly active coordinating bike drives and donations in Chicago’s northern suburbs.

Lee has been President of the Board since its creation, several years after he and wife Amy Little began collecting bikes for donation out of their garage. Lee will continue to be active as President Emeritus, Board Member, head of our Shipping Committee, in-house bike machine engineer, and de facto Building Super. We hope that this change will allow him a bit more time for rest, relaxation, and trips to the Indiana dunes.

We are immeasurably thankful for the time and energy that Lee and Phil have devoted to Working Bikes over the years. They are both passionate and dedicated leaders, and we’re excited to see what the future holds.

Phil, above, helping out at a bike drive in spring 2013.

Lee, above, helping to load bikes for CESTA in April 2014.

We had a shipping party last week! Newsletter subscribers, confused because you didn’t get an email? This party was on the road, in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois.

Working Bikes founder Lee Ravenscroft and board member Trevor Clarke made the two and a half hour trek from Chicago to Champaign to help The Bike Project of Urbana-Champaign load a shipping container on Wednesday, April 16. The container is now en route to CESTA in El Salvador.

In past years Working Bikes has transported a couple hundred bikes annually from The Bike Project to our warehouse, where they were shipped with other bikes collected locally. But this year The Bike Project collected so many bikes that moving them would have been impractical and inefficient.

In the weeks and months before the shipment, volunteers from The Bike Project prepped hundreds of bikes by removing pedals and turning handlebars. The prep-work made for a very smooth loading day. Lee, Trevor, The Bike Project shop manager James Roedl, University staff member Tina, and several Bike Project volunteers loaded the truck in just four hours, from 10am to 2pm.

The crew fit 413 adult bikes on the container, including a small load of 19 bikes that Lee brought down from Chicago. A big thanks to The Bike Project for their longstanding partnership and for letting us be part of their first onsite shipment. Thank you also to Jeff Yockey, president of Champaign County Bikes, who, just one day after serving as the host and organizer of the fantastic 3rd annual Illinois Bike Summit, got up early to get us the wood we needed to form two levels in the container!