The Changing Gears Program
Changing Gears provides a free bicycle and a cycling safety kit to socio-economically disadvantaged adults who complete training sessions in safe bicycling and basic bicycle maintenance. Since December 2007, Changing Gears has given over 200 Greensboro area adults the reliable transportation they need to find or retain employment and housing – and the skills and confidence they need to reach their destinations safely. All participants are trained in safe cycling practices such as always wearing a helmet, proper hand signals, and obeying traffic laws. In addition to the important safety and maintenance training, BIG follows up with Changing Gears participants to gauge their bicycling activity. To help protect our recipients bikes from theft or loss, the serial numbers of all Changing Gears bikes are entered in the Greensboro Police Department's Bicycle Registry.BIG believes that bicycling for transportation produces many lasting benefits for our community and that getting more people on bicycles is good for everyone. Bicycling on a regular basis can help: greatly reduce your transportation costs; improve your cardiovascular health; reduce your health care costs; reduce air pollution; improve your quality of life; and more!
If you're an adult, 18 or older, in need of affordable, reliable transportation, please contact us at ChangingGearsLeadership@bikegso.org to find out how to apply for the Changing Gears program.
How You Can Help
Currently most of the bicycles we give away are pre-loved and have been donated to BIG for the Changing Gears program. Our hard-working volunteers make needed repairs and ensure the bikes are ready to ride. Parts and supplies are paid for through the generous donations of our members and community partners.Changing Gears is always looking for eager volunteers and donations of bicycles, parts, tools, supplies, or funding! If you would like to contribute funding so that we can continue to put affordable, reliable transportation in the hands of less fortunate members of our community, please click here to donate through Paypal.
Donation Opportunities
- Donate new or gently-used bicycles
- Donate new or gently-used bicycle parts including, but not limited to, frames, wheels, tubes, locks, lights, brake pads, cables, pedals, and seats
- Donate new or used tools (bike-specific or otherwise) and supplies (shop towels, cleaners, lubricants, etc.)
- Bicycle fix-up workdays are generally one Saturday per month – no matter your skill level, we would LOVE to have you; this is great way for you to hone your bike-mechanic skills to help you keep on the road, too!
- Periodically, we need volunteers to help us pick up bicycles and transport them in our workshop at the Interactive Resource Center
- On Giveaway Days, we need volunteers to help fit bikes and helmets and to lead the new recipients on their first ride
Bicycles, parts, tools and supplies donations can be delivered to the following locations:
- The Interactive Resource Center, 407 E. Washington St., Greensboro, 27401 (Mondays 8am – 6:30pm)
- The Lotus Center, 2412 Lawndale Ave., Greensboro, 27408 (Monday-Friday, 9am – 5pm)
For additional information contact us at changinggears@bikegso.org.
History of Changing Gears
From 2007 to 2009, Changing Gears was funded through generous grants from REI Outfitters, and the Moses Cone-Wesley Long Community Health Foundation. As the end of those grants approached, BIG began looking for alternate sources of funding to continue this excellent program. In October, 2009, two anonymous donors offered a challenge grant that led to total contributions exceeding $3,500. Additionally, in response to a request from BIG, the City of Greensboro's Police Department has agreed to donate confiscated and unclaimed bicycles from its surplus property auction inventory. Many of the bikes we receive through this arrangement are in non-rideable condition, but most are able to be fully re-conditioned by our dedicated volunteers, reducing the amount of funds spent on purchasing bikes.The Changing Gears Program began distributing bikes to individuals in need, through a partnership with the Weaver House. Later, additional partnerships were formed, including the Servant Center, Greensboro Urban Ministries, Joseph's House, the UNCG Center for New North Carolinians, Grace Community Church, and La Vela Mission Hispanic Lutheran Church. Several La Vela bike recipients have since formed a new organization called the "Hispanic Bicycle League," which now holds group rides every Saturday.
In 2011, BIG established a new partnership with the Interactive Resource Center of Greensboro, through which over 60 IRC clients, most of them homeless or transitionally housed, have received bicycles. The IRC, has provided Changing Gears with a dedicated storage and work space for our tools, equipment and bikes.
Recently, three anonymous donors funded a second Changing Gears Challenge Grant that helped raise a total of $3,000 for the Changing Gears program! The City of Greensboro and Atlas Fence Company have donated various chainlink fence parts that will be used to enclose and secure the Changing Gears storage/work space inside the IRC building, located at 407 East Washington Street. The fence installation project will be completed soon.