Serving Our Community
Volunteers for Gate City Bike Co-Op share a commitment to give back to our community. We choose to do so by following the example set by our founder, John Burkitt: We give the gift of basic transportation to people with limited options and limited means.
Our organization welcomes new volunteers who share our commitment to giving. Whether you are an experienced bike mechanic, or not, and whether you are a cycling enthusiast or not, there are ways you can help. Read more about those ways below.
To volunteer, email us at gatecitybikecoop@gmail.com or call us at (603) 759-9056 to find out more, or better yet, come by our shop to meet us on a Monday or a Thursday, between 3 and 7 PM.
It Takes a Crew of Crews
Volunteer mechanics fixing bikes is the core of our mission, but without volunteers handling customer service, our bikes wouldn't get to the people who need them. Volunteers helping with shop support, IT, and PR & Community Relations are also play important roles in helping us fulfill our mission of taking old bikes and giving them, and our clients, a new life.
Mechanics
Whether you know how to index derailleurs, replace chains, re-pack wheel bearings, adjust brakes, or not, you can help fix bikes. We have crews in the shop four days per week. Some crews work in the morning, and some in the afternoon and into the evening. The majority of our volunteer wrenches are hobbyists who have previously only worked on their own bikes, but we welcome everyone from expert bike mechanics to beginners into our co-op. We teach each other.
Client Service
Monday is bike distribution day at GCBC. Our front-end crew works directly with our clients to help them find suitable bikes. They help with adjustments and special requests, and makes sure that all the accessories that we give with our bikes are included. They also handle a little bit of paperwork so that we can keep track of the bikes that we give away.
Shop Support
We've made our shop a great place to work on bikes. We have professional repair stands and toolkits that extend well beyond the basics. We keep a large collection of parts -- most of which have been stripped from donated bikes, and we keep plenty of lubricants and other supplies on hand. We also have have locks, helmets, lights and everything else that our customer service volunteers need. Keeping the shop well-stocked, organized, and clean so that our mechanics and client service volunteers can work efficiently is a job that is critical to our success.
IT
As our operation has gotten bigger, with more volunteers processing more bikes for more clients, the importance of managing our information has grown. Until now, most of our information has been paper-based and incomplete. We have a small network in our facility now, but we are only beginning to implement systems to help us track bikes from donation all the way to distribution. We also have this website and a variety of other online resources to manage,
PR & Community Relations
Making people aware of what we do at GCBC and why we do it is incredibly important. Awareness brings us relationships with other service-oriented organizations, which in turn brings us clients who need the bikes we give away. Awareness brings us the donated bikes that we give away and the funding that pays for our supplies and other expenses. And last but definitely not least, awareness brings us new volunteers, who bring new skills and ideas.
Records and Accounting
We raise money through our annual bike sale, and we receive grants and donations. We spend money on parts (when we have to), tools, shop supplies, office supplies, communications, and on our facility. We have relied on the services of a fiscal agent in the past, but with our recent recognition as a 501(c)(3) public charity, we, with the help of our volunteers, will take on responsibility for managing, tracking, and reporting on our financial transactions and resources properly.