Most of our long time members know the history of our bicycle ministry. For the new members I’d like to give a brief update regarding this important part of our benevolence ministry.
The ministry began when a person eating lunch at our Daily Bread was talking about needing a bike to get around Denton. Jerry Browder was volunteering that day and was able to connect to this person and agreed to find him a bike. This person’s brother had to hitch hike or walk to Lewisville daily to work a minimum wage job.
Prior to this, all the donated bikes we received from our members were given away as we were not formerly in the “bike business”. Jerry found a source in Dallas that provided used bikes to non-profit organizations. From this contact Joe Keck’s barn became the storage place for numerous bikes that needed work. The good ones we got were immediately made available to the homeless population in Denton.
A bike might seem to be a small thing, but if you are having to walk or come up with $1.50 bus fare any time you wanted to go look for work, a bike was a good solution to your mobility. DCTA soon put bike racks on front of their White/Green buses allowing bike owners to ride part of the way to work and then peddle to the business location which are seldom on the bus routes. You see a lot of bike riders in Denton. Probably 6 of 10 of these bikes came from Singing Oaks.
Looking for a job if you are a homeless person in Denton is difficult if you are on foot. Many homeless live in the woods around town or stay as many nights as they can at the Salvation Army on E. McKinney. If you are a temporary housed unemployed individual who wanted to place an application at Wal-Mart, you’d have to walk 2 to 5 miles to do so. We have given over 600 bikes to people during the past 6 years.
Joe Keck and Earl Berkey make all repairs and keep the church supplied with good usable bicycles. They even give some to Our Daily Bread for distribution.
Currently we don’t have a need for bikes that are needing repair because we probably have 50 on hand between Joe Keck and Earl Berkey’s homes. If you have a bike that could just be given as is to a person, we’d appreciate getting those donations. You can bring these bikes and leave them in the community room here at church were the benevolence ministry is housed. If you might be interested in bike repair, talk to Joe Keck or Earl Berkey.
