Getting bikes to our NHS and key workers so they can travel to and from work safely and more easily during the Covid-19 crisis
by Gloucestershire Bike Project in Gloucester, England, United Kingdom
Any additional funds raised would allow us to support even more of our NHS and other key workers through the gift of a bike. The need is great and if we can we can raise enough money, we would like to support people in this way across the country.
During this frightening time we are all being told, daily, to stay home, so we can keep ourselves and others safe, and protect our NHS. But, nurses, care workers and other essential workers have to go to work to keep everything going and save lives. Many will be making the difficult decision to use public transport to get to work as they have no choice, and others have to walk long distances to work at all hours. They are doing this for all of us.
Here at Gloucestershire Bike Project, we decided last week to donate all our refurbished bikes to frontline, key and essential workers so they could have a safe, convenient way to get to and from work.
We received a mind-blowing response, almost 1000 requests.
We ran out of bikes pretty quickly. So, we have started buying new bikes to gift. To date we have given away 40 refurbished bikes and 10 new bikes, with locks too, and have another 20 new bikes on order and already allocated.
We need more bikes; that’s why we are fundraising to purchase bikes to gift to our NHS staff and other key and essential workers.
With your help, we can get a bike to as many of those in need as we can.
Having a bike to get to work will help our Key Workers protect their own health, as well as reduce the risk to those they are caring for, and their own families, by not having to use public transport. Many key and essential workers are on low incomes and would struggle financially to purchase a new bike.
“This bike will really help me after a very stressful & emotional day at work; it will give me the much needed headspace I need to be able to do it all again tomorrow; thus helping me stay mentally and physically well to support my Critical Care family.” (Intensive Care Sister, Debbie)
Individuals – “Give an hour” or “Donate your fare” for our key workers – could you donate the equivalent of an hour’s wages, or your daily commute?
Local Businesses - could you sponsor a bike or two?
Funders/Charitable Trusts – could you provide an emergency grant to support this worthwhile cause?
About us…
Gloucestershire Bike Project is a not for profit, social enterprise – all profits are used to fund our work in the community.
We create opportunities through bikes, such as free bike building courses for young people, free bike maintenance workshops for adults, volunteering opportunities for older people, low cost refurbished bike sales, and other grassroots cycling projects.
We exist to make cycling accessible, encourage more people to get out on bikes, and foster the re-use and re-homing of bikes which may otherwise have ended their lives in sheds, garages or scrap metal bins.
We rely on the generosity of people donating second-hand bikes that they no longer need and would rather see being kept in use, to help us to keep going and growing. These are either used in our free bike building workshops for vulnerable young people, or are lovingly refurbished by our expert mechanics, and then donated to people in the community to offer them transport and independence, or sold to fund and deliver our community projects and initiatives.
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