SPOKES FOR FOLKS PROVIDING BIKES FOR PEOPLE IN NEED

Causeway social enterprise Cycle Salvation was thrilled to deliver 18 refurbished bicycles to the youth program at Ottawa Community Immigrant Services Organization (OCISO) this spring, a happy conclusion to the Spokes for Folks campaign.

“Cycle Salvation is often asked to donate bikes to worthy causes in the Ottawa area,” says manager Rob Robitaille, “but because we are a non-profit social enterprise and only partially funded, we are required to sell our bikes to help support our job training program. The Causeway Spokes for Folks donation campaign gave us the funding and the opportunity to donate 18 of our refurbished bikes to OCISO!”

“OCISO is happy to partner with Causeway on providing bicycles to immigrant and refugee youth,” says Donnielle Roman, YOCISO Manager. “Thanks to Causeway’s fundraising campaign Spokes for Folks, our youth now are able to enjoy the outdoors after the pandemic, especially when the summer season is near us which means the youth have more opportunities to get out and ride!”

“The Cycle Salvation team were really happy to see the bikes going to a good cause, and pleased to know the bikes would be distributed to children and youth who really needed them,” echoes Rob.

Spokes for Folks is a community campaign that restores old bikes, breaks down barriers to employment, and provides bicycles to people who need them. This was an opportunity for Cycle Salvation to restore bikes that were otherwise too expensive to fix and connect them to people in the community through Ottawa Community Immigrant Services Organization (OCISO).

These bicycles will greatly improve the day-to-day lives of people in our community by providing a set of wheels for them to get where they want to go. The campaign also provided valuable work opportunities for Cycle Salvation’s staff who have experienced barriers to employment.

Interested in supporting Spokes 4 Folks? You still can!

Did you know that a donation of $250 will cover the entire cost (including labour) of saving a bicycle? Click here to make a donation to Cycle Salvation today, or check out Cycle Salvation’s shop and bike repair services: https://www.cyclesalvation.org/

Thank you to our community of donors and anonymous matching donors for making this possible, and thank you to the hard-working team at Cycle Salvation for the expert care taken to refurbish bikes for members of our community. Happy riding!