The Ogden Bicycle Collective is Raising Funds For New Building

By Josh Jones Although the Bicycle Collective has been
around for over ten years, many of Cycling Utah’s readers might not
be familiar with our mission to promote cycling as an effective and
sustainable form of transportation and as a cornerstone of a
cleaner, healthier, and safer society. The Collective provides
refurbished bicycles and educational programs to the community,
focusing on children and lower income households. We have grown
over the years and now operate community shops and programs in Salt
Lake, Ogden and Provo. We are excited about the good we have been
able to do this year with over 10,000 bikes parked at local events,
over 1,500 refurbished bicycles donated through our bikes for
goodwill program, putting more than 300 youth through earn a bike
classes and serving 5,600 customers in our community Shops. We are
also excited about being able to expand the reach of our
organization through developing our satellite shops in Provo and
Ogden after our proven model in Salt Lake City. After leasing a
space on Wall Avenue in Ogden for 5 years, the Bicycle Collective’s
Ogden Shop finally has a permanent home. We have been working on
acquiring an abandoned building in the East Central neighborhood
for two and a half years and we are now the proud owners of a
building that needs a lot of help. The roof is very old and during
a downpour it literally rains “inside” the building. Thieves have
ripped out all the wiring and most of our door and windows need to
be replaced. We benefit from a strong can do attitude and see
opportunity where others might not. Just like bikes that are saved
from the landfill and put back to practical use in the community,
this building that has been an eyesore and a serious liability to
the neighborhood for the last decade will now be refurbished and
become an asset. It was a post office, then a dry cleaner, now
another great community bike shop. The roof is first, Wiring and
other electrical next, followed by doors, windows and new washroom
facilities. We will dig in and stretch every dollar donated to the
max and leverage the volunteered time and skills of our community
in every way possible but if you are able, we would encourage you
to show your support visiting the link below and donating to the
Bicycle Collective. http://www.bicyclecollective.org/donate