Morgan Hough pedaled a bicycle Aug. 8 across the parking lot of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Bentonville. But she wasn't headed for a ride along the Razorback Greenway.
Hough's trial helped determine if the bike's frame stood intact, if the bike displayed good working order for another to use.
‘ReCycling Freedom’
Chain Reaction Ministry started in December 2009 at Memorial Drive Christian Church in Houston. Members of the ministy recycle bicycles by linking donors with identified needs in the community.
“People have an emotional attachment to their bicycles,” reads the group’s website. “It was their first bike — or their kid’s first bike – and they don’t want to simply set it on the curb or donate it to a large, faceless charity. They want to know their bike can provide the same freedom and hope they experienced to a person in need.”
In addition to recycling bicycles for use, ministry workerd send unusable metal scrap for recycling, keeping it out of landfills.
Currently, the Bentonville program is one of the “spokes” of the growing Chain Reaction ministry. Other spokes include Oklahoma City, Baton Rouge and Houston.
Information: chainreactionbikes.….
Chain Reaction Ministry
What: Work day
When: 8 a.m. Sept. 12
Where: First Christian Church in Bentonville, 807 S.E. 14th St.
Information: 273-2596, phicks@nwadisciples…
First Christian this spring began a new ministry: Chain Reaction, which aims to recycle bicycles. Through the project, the group collects old bikes, cleans them up and gives them away to people in need.
"It's an effort to get bikes into the hands of folks with inadequate transportation," said Peggy Hicks, outreach coordinator of the church.
After the initial announcement of the ministry, nearly 30 bicycles were donated by members of the church -- enough that the organizers now need a place to store the bikes.
"We have great trails," noted Hicks, a cyclist herself. "There's gentrification of the area -- especially Bentonville. But where you have affluence, you also have poverty. And one of their main issues is transportation."
Many people living in poverty don't own cars, or the cars they do own are not reliable, she said.
"We want to get them to work or school," Hicks continued.
Reliable transportation often makes or breaks the success of clients of Souls Harbor in Rogers, said Rachel Cox, the executive director of the transitional living program for men ages 18 to 65.
"They go to classes. They are working," she said. "So many of our men are supervised by the court, and they have mandatory counseling for substance abuse."
The driver's licenses of some men in the program have been revoked, she added. "And, whether they have a license or not, they want to see their children," Cox continued.
In addition to needing transportation to school or work, the bicycles could be used to ride to town pick up job applications or for job interviews. Local ministry team member Chad Smith noted the bicycles could be ridden to stops of the Ozark Regional Transit system, then loaded on the front of the buses to carry riders between towns.
Souls Harbor directors plan for residents to take bicycles with them when they leave the program -- hopefully removing that transportation obstacle for success, Cox noted
Since last month, Ashley Holly has ridden one of the bicycles accessed through the Career Pathways program at Northwest Arkansas Community College. She rides the bike to the school, where she is taking the basic classes needed for a degree and a career and where she volunteers through the school's Work Force program. She lives 3 to 4 miles from the school and 3 to 4 miles in the opposite direction from her volunteer work.
"We have a car, but it is not reliable," said this single mother of two. "Plus, I have no income, and gas gets expensive."
"A car requires quite a bit for quality and maintenance," Cox agreed.
"We're just getting started, contacting local shelters, organizations, the community college and the UA, to get bicycles in the hands of folks," Hicks said. "I want each shelter to have a rack of bikes."
Wheels to work
The First Christian ministry team works the second Saturday of each month to clean and repair bicycles before they are shared. In August, Smith was putting air in tires, and teenager Gabe Scott was using soap, steel wool and a hose to shine the bicycles after repair.
"I think it's cool setting up people to succeed," said church member Bill Eby.
In June, the local Chain Reaction team worked on 19 bikes; in July it was 17; in August they prepared 10 adult bikes and about 10 children's rides for Souls Harbor.
"Ninety percent of our clients are fathers," said Cox of Souls Harbor. When the children visit, riding the bicycles will provide entertainment and bonding opportunities, she said, with families making use of the trails around Lake Atalanta. Souls Harbor also works to introduce active and healthful activities to clients and their children.
Cox said ministry members also visit the shelter with lessons on bike safety, maintenance and upkeep.
Eby loaded a bike onto an orange rack, raising it to eye level for maintenance. Eby, who used to run a bicycle shop in Rogers, tightened nuts on that Saturday in August. He said most problems with bicycles are found in the tires and tubes, the seat, the handlebars and the grips, the brakes and the gears.
"Some (donated) bikes take a lot of work," Hicks said. On most, Chain Reaction volunteers pay attention to the brakes, the seats, the chains.
"How's it looking, Chad?" Eby asked another ministry member working nearby. "It's looking rusty," Smith said of the bike on which he was trying to adjust the seat. Some bicycles the ministry team rebuilds from the ground up.
"A couple of bikes, we replaced everything," Hicks said. "But we're not going to turn away any bike. They're really not 'trashed.' If they are, they can be broken down for spare parts or sold as scrap metal to support the ministry."
And she admitted that on some bicycles, "we were in over our heads," so they referred those to local experts.
"We've seen a lot of brands across the board," Smith said. "There are some great bikes."
On the first workday in June, David Finkle, founder of Chain Reaction, came to Bentonville to teach team members about basic bicycle maintenance. And the team is blessed with several members who owned or worked at bicycle shops.
"Many of our members were bikers or cyclists but are no longer able," Hicks said.
Hicks hopes local bicycles shops consider donating used bicycles to the project. Others come when a cyclist upgrades his ride. "Everybody seems to have a bicycle in their garage they are not using," she said.
NAN Religion on 09/05/2015