Bike Fixing Project
On November 11 and February 10 2018, there were two bike fixing projects. Shin Shin Youth Group students and parents went to the Silicon Valley Bike Exchange workshop in Mountain View, California. The program repairs and donates bicycles and helmets to low income individuals through its partnership with the Mountain View Community Services Agency (MVCSA).
When we got there, the volunteer Veronica greeted us enthusiastically. She gave us the equipment we needed and told us the basics of bikes. All we have to do is to clean the bike, find where there is a problem with the bike and report to one of the professionals. Finally, we got to pick a bike and start to fixing the problem. Leo and I decided to work on one bike together, while the rest also split into groups of two. Our bike was in pretty ok shape, but the brake was broken and one of the handle bars was missing. As we correctly found all the problems, the professionals also as promised, showed us how to fix all of them, and on top of that for our bike, Veronica also fixed the pedals. Three hours passed very quickly. Lisa and Marttius had already fixed two bikes. One of them had its brakes deviated from the center line, causing the tire to rub the tire without braking. The other one had neither front and rear reflectors, and its rear tire was also blown out. They got green checks from Dave, a professional monitor and volunteer in the organization. The bikes that we fixed are going to be donated to Mountain View Community Center and other shelters throughout the Silicon Valley. We hoped that we could actually see people receive the bikes that we fixed someday in the future. |