Green Mountain Foster Bikes

Green Mountain Foster Bikes
A mission in connection with the Vermont Department of Child Services to give every foster kid in Vermont a bicycle to ride.

The Vision
Do you have memeories of riding a bicycle as a kid? I do, and I still ride my bicycle for transportation, health, and happiness. I have dedicated my life to servicing bicycles so that riders of all types can purse their dreams on wheels. I also believe that the more bicycles that are in use, the better the riding will be for everyone. To this end I am always looking at where bikes are needed. As I work on them at my bike shop, I learn about the different needs of the riders. These needs are wonderfully varied and have led me to notice the foster child population in Vermont. With the realization of the need comes my desire to fulfill it.

The Bike
As I was thinking about the project, I wanted to use a bicycle that needed as little maintenace as possible, while still meeting the needs of the kids using it We as a nation throw away a ridiculous amount of bicycles. With simple modification, the best of these can become simple one speed coaster brake bicycles. Given a moderate gearing a rider could enjoy most of Vermont's terrain. What I would like to do is give the bicycles that need a home to kids that need a home. If the kids like the bicycle they use, then they can keep it if they choose; I will just make more.
Reasons I chose not to use a geared bike: Bicycles with gears have cables that are used to shift the gears. These bikes also have cables to activate the brakes. When the cables get old, it does not move freely, which comprimises the gears and brakes. The brakes and gears can loose motion, get bent, and loose performance if not properly maintained.
The coaster brake bicycles I plan to deliver only need oil on the chain and air in the tires to stay ready for service for years to come.

Me
My name is Timothy Mathewson, and Ihave been working on bicycles for 40 years. I have always wanted to save every bike. I helped to found Bike Recycle Vermont, and to date they have given away over 2000 bicycles. For the last 6 years I have been running Little City Cycles, in Vergennes, Vermont. I enjoy getting as many people on bicycles that they will like to ride. I often state that I can not help you with your problems, but I can help your bicycle, and it will help you with your problems. I also beleive that there is no such thing as a bad bike, only a sad one if it is not ridden.

The Help
As I recieve bicycles as donations to my bike shop, I am evaluating and saving bicycles for the foster bikes program. Even with using recycled bikes, there is a cost to getting them ready. I would like to see each bicycle get new tires, tubes, pedals, chains, grips, and seats, which are often needed as well as the coaster brake conversion of the bike which takes some time.
I own the bike shop Little City Cycles, and since I already have industry accounts and connectins within the community, I am poised for success with this project. This way costs can be kept to a bare minimum and lets me focus on the goal. My initial goal is to have 50 bicycles ready by April 1st 2016, and another 50 by April 1st 2017. Depending on the contributions after this, we would determine how many bicycles per year could be contributed. This would establish Green Mountain Foster Bikes as a source for bikes for foster kids for years to come. From there I would like to see all the needs met for foster kids in Vermont over time. We are working directly with the State of Vermont Department of Child and Family Sevices ( http://dcf.vermont.gov)
to find the homes for the bikes.

What $100 provides
Bicycle
New helmet
Lock (when needed)
Each home that the bicycles go to will recieve a pump, rag, and oil for the chain. If the kids keep air in the tires, oil on the chain, and the bike wiped down, then they will have a connection to the bicycle and the basic maintenance required. This will give them a sense of ownership as well as an awareness around bicycles that will last a lifetime.

Thank you so much for your consideration in giving to this project. Please remember to share this site with your friends, and let them know that bicycle donations as well as dollars help us reach our goals. I do beleive that as a community we can help many kids begin their memories with a bicycle.

Tim Mathewson and Tanya Bashaw
Founders of Green Mountain Foster Bikes