The Village Bicycle Project has been around for more than 25 years and according to Executive Director Josh Poppel, they’ve been operating in Utah for the last five. He said there’s a big need for bikes in Africa. Initially the bike project began working in Ghana because it was a cheap and accessible port. Soon after, he said they expanded to Sierra Leone.
“We typically have requests from all over Africa,” Poppel said. “We could increase our bike shipping by 100% and not come anywhere near to meeting the demand. So, we just have established programs in these two countries right now, and we're trying to meet as much of the demand there as possible.”
Poppel said crews of about six people work in each country, taking possession of the bikes when they arrive in a 40-foot shipping container. Those teams then tune up the bikes and organize the distribution of them to students.
Parkite James May is a Village Bicycle Project board member. He said a local bike drop off is set for Saturday, May 3 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Walmart parking lot at Kimball Junction.
"Park City really has a lot of the kinds of bikes we're looking for. You know, aluminum frame 26-inch wheel mountain bikes that are sturdy, tough, the old Treks and Specialized bikes that people really can't bring themselves to get rid of or just throw out, because they seem like they have value, but they don't have monetary value on a resale market," May said. "And they don't really have value as a mountain biking tool anymore, but they very much have transformational value in the hands of a person who needs reliable transportation in a rural area on a dirt road, and these are the kinds of bikes that get that done.”
In addition, the project will accept donations of gently used bike clothing, shoes and helmets as well as bike parts. May said the organization will gladly pick up bikes and equipment if donors can't get to the collection site on Saturday. While a $25 stipend is requested to help offset the shipping costs, he said it’s not required.
