Why Salvation Army?

As I’ve stated in this blog previously, I am not a spiritual or religious person. I am an Atheist. The Salvation Army is obviously a church-based organization and evangelism is a part of its mission. Why then do I donate many of my bicycles to this organization that is antithetical to my belief system?

I hope that my bikes will end up in the hands of people who need them. I think that the Salvation Army store to which I donate bikes is in the best position to get them to the needy. The store is located just on the city line. It’s in a working-class neighborhood and the people that shop there (generally) are shopping there out of need.

There are other Salvation Army stores and thrift stores run by other organizations in my area that are in “nicer” neighborhoods and they seem to cater to a different clientele – wealthier people looking for bargains or harder-to-find goods. In my opinion, there’s nothing wrong with this approach for it brings in needed revenue for the charity.

When I donate a bike, it goes directly out to the floor. I’ve witnessed families buying the bicycles within moments of my donation. The kids were so excited, it made me feel great! I’ve also been asked for a bike before I even wheeled it into the store. I had no problem giving it away right there, directly.

Occasionally, I’ll drop by the store and look around. Only once have I seen one of my donated bikes there a few weeks after I brought it in.

I’ve given my local store 44 bicycles since 2006.

Twice I have seen bikes that I’ve given to the Salvation Army out “in the wild.”

The first time, I saw a kids’ bike that I had fixed for sale at a yard sale near my neighborhood. That was slightly disappointing. The guy obviously bought the bike and was trying to resell it for a profit (he has yard sales frequently and no children). I talked to the seller and told him that I had built that bike and given it to charity in the hopes that a needy kid in the city would get it. He seemed to get the idea and I’ve not seen any more of my bikes for sale from him again.

The second time, I saw a girls’ mountain bike that I repaired being ridden down the street by an older man. He had a big grin on his face – he was obviously enjoying the ride. Perhaps it was his first bike ride in many years. This has motivated me to keep up with the work!

I’ve gotten into discussion on online message boards regarding donating bikes to thrift stores. Some people claim that it’s not the most effective way to get them to the needy and that there is a lot of corruption and waste at these shops. That’s probably true for some stores in some locations, but I am convinced that most of my donations are getting to the people.

I’ve been told that a bike co-op or similar is the best place for giveaway bikes. We did have a program like that in a nearby city. I gave them some frames and wheels. Unfortunately, I think they’ve moved to a new location and are not functioning at this time. I’ve heard about another program in the city to which I am closest and I might look into donating some of my better quality bicycles.

The title for Jacquie Phelan’s food blog, “Salivation Army,” is a brilliant pun.

Weird Bike Finding Coincidences

I am not a spiritual or religious person, but I’ve had a couple of weird bike finding coincidences. I don’t think that there is a bike god, but a few more occurrences such as this might cause me to question that statement.

I started picking up discarded bikes in the fall of 2006. The second bike I found was a Huffy mountain bike with a damaged fork. The third bike I found (a month later) was a Huffy mountain bike with a damaged frame. I put the undamaged fork onto the undamaged frame and made my first bike donation to the Salvation Army.

In August of 2007, I found a kids’ bike with 16” wheels out for the garbage. The front wheel was damaged and not usable and there was no tire on it. It was also missing a saddle. Four months later, I was walking the dogs one morning and I found a saddle, a 16” front wheel and a 16” tire. These three items were found along the side of the street in three different locations. They were found a few miles from the bike I found a few months earlier. The parts were exactly what I needed to finish it. I donated the bike to the Salvation Army later that day.

One block over from my house has been a weird vortex of random bike parts. Over the last four years I have found a usable 700c tube, a chainguard, a Blackburn rear rack, a cannondale seat bag, a Rhode Gear bike rack for the car, a BMX bike, a kids’ bike, a low-level Peugeot 10-speed (my first French bike – some usable parts) and a strangely assembled Roadmaster. Most of these items were found in different locations at different times. This is the block I walk the most. I wonder if other blocks in my town have the same density of bicycle flotsam?

Two cents for 2010

I found a penny last night and another one today. Yes, that’s only $.02, but it does add up. $1.73 of the $75 found in 2009 was in pennies. Most of these were picked up one at a time. I did find 21 pennies together on one fall day but that is pretty rare.

I also found a flattened fork today. I don’t know why, but I love finding discarded metal cutlery. I seem to find most of these pieces in colder weather. There is some kind of winter – throw forks in the street correlation going on.

Additionally, I went out to walk the dogs in the evening New Year’s Day and found that a neighbor had dropped off a free bike for me in my driveway. It is the first free bike of the year, number 129 since I started picking them up in 2006. This one is no doubt the most high-end I have yet obtained. There will be more on this one later.

A few days ago I found this Virgin of Guadalupe pendant. It’s not valuable, but it’s a neat thing to find. It’s roughly the size of a penny and about the same color. I used to collect religious items like statuary, crucifixes and icons, purely for decoration. I was raised protestant, so we didn’t have these kinds of things around. As a child, crucifixes and statuary seemed especially scary to me. The crucifix depicts someone’s death after all, and the veneration shown to statues of the Virgin or other saints imbues them with a sense of the unknown, even to an avowed atheist such as I am now.