We managed to find enough coordinators this month to schedule a kids only shop.

Kids Shop – Kids under 16 are invited to work on bikes and/or volunteer for Yellow Bike.  Adult volunteers who want to help kids work on bikes are welcome as well.

Kids are always welcome at any shop but we ask that those under age 16 be supervised by an adult.  This is a challenge for parents and guardians, so we allow coordinator discretion in allowing un-escorted kids to work.  It all depends on shop workload, coordinator discretion, the youth’s motivation and behavior, etc.  During a very busy shop it is often difficult to allow kids to work without direct supervision.

So this month, while school is out, we’re trying to expand opportunities for kids to work on their bikes and participate in youth earn-a-bike.  Yours truly found some time to help and we are blessed with a volunteer who is getting paid by Americorps to work with youth.  Hopefully we can continue these afternoon shops until school commences in late August.

We don’t require kids to have an adult escort but we welcome volunteers who want to work with kids.  As energetic as we are, a shop full of kids trying to make their bikes work can be busy.

First shop of the month is often quiet

We didn’t have any kids show up yesterday.  I expected that might happen.  One of the other coordinators made a bunch of flyers and spread them around the neighborhood.  I hope Wednesday is busy.

More in the future?

For the past two years, the Yellow Bike Project has been focused on paying off the micro-loans that allowed us to build a fantastic facility.  We are very close to paying off that debt and we’ve been discussing what to do and how to expand opportunities–especially for kids.  We hope to build and sustain more programs like this.  Of course, we can always use assistance.  Being a coordinator is really rewarding.  Even if you can’t commit time and energy to apprenticing, any volunteer assistance is a huge help.