This spring season, we’ve sent over a thousand bikes to our international partners!

513 bikes were sent to Africycle in Malawi, 516 bikes were sent to Village Bicycle Project in Ghana and 491 bikes were sent to A&K Philanthropy in Jordan. As always, a big thank you to all our volunteers that came out to lend a hand the past few weeks.

We’re planning our next shipping party to Guatemala in early June. Be on the lookout for the dates. No experience is necessary! We love showing folks the ropes.

Contact [email protected] or give a call for any questions. 

Photo Courtesy of Evanston Bicycle Club’s website

Working Bikes applied for a grant through the Evanston Bicycle Club for bike-related programs of not-for-profit organizations.  The grant will help provide bicycles to adults in need of transportation in the Chicago area through the Working Bikes Cycle of Power program.  The funds will help cover the costs associated with collecting up to 140 bikes and providing locks and helmets to the Cycle of Power recipients.

The money for the EBC grant program is raised from the registration fees for the North Shore Century.  We encourage riders to sign up for this year’s century on September 16, 2018!

Early this spring we’ve been award 17 shop owners that use their space to collect over several dozen bikes in 2017.

Number of Bikes Collected from Each Drop-off Location

455 – Bicycles Etc., Lisle and Naperville
386 – George Garner Cyclery – Libertyville, Northbrook, and Lake Zurich
283 – Village CycleSport – Arlington Heights and Barrington
235 – Wheel & Sprocket – Evanston and Oak Park
201 – Glenview Cycle
180 – Epic Cycle and Fitness
147 – Green Bay Cycles
136 – Performance Bicycle Lombard
125 – Trek Bicycle Highland Park
125 – The Wheel Thing
105 – 7 Mile Cycle
93 – Cycle Smithy
88 – All Spoked Up
71 – Beverly Bike and Ski
62 – Performance Bicycle Lincoln Park
57 – REI Co-op Lincoln Park
57 – RRB Cycles Kenilworth

Working Bikes runs on the donations we receive so we’re happy to acknowledge the shops that take the time to make their shops an accessible location for folks to donate bikes without folks needing to come all the way to our warehouse to donate bikes.

Know a bike shop in your area that could be our next drop off location? Contact us at [email protected] or call our shop at (773) 847-5440 to get your neighborhood bike shop to help support the cause.

Earth Day weekend has passed and we have the numbers!

SATURDAY, APRIL 21 

Glen Ellyn Recycling Extravaganza – 32
Alderman Hopkins Earth Day Event – 12
Earth Day Fair in Porter County – 16
Northbrook Earth & Arbor Day – 15
Glendale Heights Recycling Event – 7
River Forest
Recycling Extravaganza – 40
Oak Park Earth Fest – 11
Schaumburg Recycling Event – 37
Saint Elizabeth Seton Church
Bike Drive (Orland Hills) – 138

SUNDAY, APRIL 22
Saint George Church
Bike Drive (Tinley Park} – 78
Congregation Hakafa, Am Shalom and North Shore Congregation Israel – 78
Lincoln School Bike Drive Evanston – 5

Grand Total – 469

We couldn’t have done this without the amazing support of Chicagoland recycling event organizers that love to spread our mission around. Many thanks to our staff, volunteers, and donors who have made this all possible.

Excited to see what next year will bring!

The Working Bikes Crew is excited to bring you a new set of highlights from last year. Since 2013, we’ve picked out our top stats and stories that best shows the amazing work we’ve done.

2017 was yet another record-breaking year for us as we donated a total of 8,430 bikes which exceeds the 8,323 bikes from last year. Over 6,000 of them were shipped to international partners while another 1,000 or so were given as donations to folks in the Chicagoland area.

As always we are immensely grateful for the hard work and dedication of our volunteers and bike donors that have helped make this possible.  Let’s keep pushing in 2018!

You can find the full 2017 Annual Report here. 

Yesterday, we gave a surprise donation to a lucky member of the Esperanza Health Center diabetes focus group! The program focuses on educating their most uncontrolled diabetic patients to help them better understand the disease while helping participants take control of their health.

By the end, folks are strongly encouraged to usually end group on a strong note that emphasizes the importance of physical activity in a healthy lifestyle. Through a series of medication management, education and group discussion they encourage their patients to share and learn from one another.  

As always, we’re excited about growing partnership with Esperanza Health Centers and looking forward to more collaborative projects together as we approach the warmer months.

Click here to learn more about Esperanza Health Centers and their mission.

We’re super excited to announce this large donation from the amazing 8th grade class of GEMS Academy! Working Bikes is one of twelve charitable organizations selected by GEMS Academy as beneficiaries for their annual fundraising efforts!

GEMS aims to reinforce important values like generosity and volunteerism into their students. Students, parents, and the entire GEMS community work together to raise funds. Last year they raised over $3,400 for each of our chosen charities. This year the raised managed to raise over $86,000 total for all 12 charities, of which $7225  was given to Working Bikes. In addition to the money, the 8th-grade class held a bike drive for us on MLK day and got the full Working Bikes experience in Brandon’s Bike Shop, our volunteer workspace.

Yesterday Andrew, our volunteer coordinator, attended their “big check” presentation to explain our mission and express our immense gratitude for their awesome hard work. Working Bikes is very proud to have been chosen by this amazing group of youth and we are always grateful to the Chicago community for supporting us in our efforts to spread goodwill to our local and global communities.

Learn more about GEMS World Academy here! Like to make a donation to Working Bikes? Learn how you can get involved today!

On February 28 Working Bikes Board members Lee and Phil delivered 210 children’s bikes in a rented 26-foot truck to FB4K in Madison. They needed the bikes to help meet their goal of giving out 1000 bikes at their giveaway event on March 24. They are partnering with 39 community organizations to line up recipients for the bikes. We at Working Bikes love to partner with other bike organizations to get bikes to those who need them.

Our first shipping party of the year was sent to CESTA in El Salvador today!

For those who don’t know, The Salvadoran Center for Appropriate Technology (CESTA) was founded in 1980 by a group of academics to protect this Central American nation’s increasingly fragile environment. Their mission is to promote environmentally sustainable and socially equitable transportation operating a bicycle import, repair, and sales workshop. Working Bikes has a long-standing relationship with CESTA.

For the January shipment, we managed to fit 253 kids bikes and 256 adult bikes into the shipping container with the help of our awesome volunteers.

Working Bikes is always excited to help other local and global organizations that have a similar mission to ours.

We expect more large bike donations to arrive in February, so be on the lookout for our next Shipping Party!

On November 12^th, Working Bikes mechanic, Patrick Tivnan boarded a series of planes to travel to Bwindi, Uganda to assist in the training of the staff of a new bicycle project in a village bordering the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. Patrick brought with him two bags of bike-specific tools, clothes, and a budding mustache. Working Bikes had already sent a total of 849 bikes within two containers, but Patrick would be the first to open them, with the exception of Ugandan customs agents.

Over the course of the next 8 weeks, Patrick w1uld train nearly two dozen women in elements of bicycle mechanics before the five staff members of the new Bwindi Women’s Bicycle Enterprise would be made final. Patrick worked with the women, and the staff of the BCH Bwindi Community Hospital and Guesthouse and Inn as well as those of the Sanctuary Gorilla Forest Camp (of A&K Philanthropy) to create a bicycle work stand, and begin inventorying and repairing the bicycles. As Patrick prepared to leave, sales began with hospital staff. The excitement of available bicycles spread through the community and Patrick returned to Chicago knowing that the future of the remaining bicycles were in the capable and thoughtful hands of Scovia, Proscovia, Penlope, Bridgette, and Beth.