8:53 p.m.: Volunteers open bike collective

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October 1, 2008

By Barrett Newkirk, Herald Bulletin Staff Writer The Herald Bulletin Wed Oct 01, 2008, 08:55 PM EDT

ANDERSON — A new initiative got rolling this week to put more bicycles on city streets.

Modeled after bicycle exchange programs in larger cities, the Shadeland Bicycle Collective aims to provide newly repaired bikes at little or no cost to those who need them.

Volunteers are now working out of the Mercy House community center but say they hope to soon move into a garage space where they can host repair workshops and sell their growing inventory of used bikes.

“The idea is skill-sharing and education as much as getting bicycles in the community,” organizer Ben Orcutt said.

Orcutt and other volunteers, most of them students from Anderson University, held their first bicycle workshop for a small group of elementary school students Thursday afternoon at the Mercy House, the former Shadeland Elementary School located at 1525 W. 14th St.

The session was held in conjunction with Shadeland Tutoring and Recreation, or STAR, a weekly after-school program for students in kindergarten through fifth grade that also began Wednesday.

Four boys talked bikes with the volunteers in the building’s gymnasium. After examining a blue child-sized bike for defects, the boys and their mentors agreed that it needed some crucial repairs like new tires, a front reflector and a fresh coat of paint. They then worked together to dissemble the bike starting with the handle bars.

Along with allowing the students to do their own basic bike repairs, volunteers with the bicycle collective want to pass along guidelines for bicycle safety and encourage people of all ages to bike more often.

“This is obviously important, but we want to be open to the whole community,” Orcutt said. “It’s just a more economical way to get around, and this town is so flat that you can get anywhere on a bike.”

Orcutt, who logged around 900 miles on his own bike this summer, has collected 30 bicycles of all sizes and has them in storage at the Mercy House. He said he imagines that once a donated bike is repaired and ready for the road, the collective will sell it for about $50, but pricing would also be based on person’s need and ability to pay.

Along with more used bikes, the group could also benefit from donated tools, bike parts, helmets, chains and locks, and volunteer support or monetary donations.

Sarah Whitesel, who is directing the STAR program, said the bicycle workshops are one of several options available during the weekly after-school sessions sponsored by the Mercy House and available free to families.

Volunteers are also leading tutoring and group games. Sometime later in the school year, the program will also likely offer music lessons and a positive self-esteem program for girls, Whitesel said.

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Want to know more?

For more information on the Shadeland Bicycle Collective, e-mail bicycles@themercyhouse.com or call John Roy at (765) 610-1466 or Ben Orcutt at (513) 535-1561.

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For more information on STAR (Shadeland Tutoring and Recreation), e-mail Sarah Whitesel at sarahwhitesel@live.com.

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