In 2004, bicycling and recycling enthusiast Ron Manganiello of South Burlington heard about a local Somali family's need for a bicycle and their inability to pay. Remembering that a bike which belonged to his recently deceased neighbor was in a nearby dumpster, he made the connection and got the bike ready for use. Having taken early retirement from Burlington Electric, Manganiello started collecting donated bicycles, fixing them in his backyard, and giving them to people who could not otherwise afford them.

That was the start of Bike Recycle Vermont.

Two years and hundreds of bicycles later, BRV bustles with activity in the basement of the Good News Garage, a non-profit organization that repairs donated automobiles and provides them to low-income Vermonters. No longer alone, Manganiello now has the help of project manager Mark Rowell, Ameri-Corps Vista Volunteer Wilson Skinner, and dozens of volunteers. He estimates that BRV has given out about 1000 bikes to date - each one with a lock and a helmet. BRV has some 500 bikes in storage, waiting to be repaired and distributed.

"We give out about 50 per cent of our bikes to children, including tricycles," Manganiello says. "The little ones don't cry when their older brothers or sisters get a bike, if they are able to get a trike." BRV has been able to fit bikes for a wide range of people - including a young Sudanese who is 6 feet, 8 inches tall. "We give bikes to people who are living well below the poverty line," says Mark Rowell, "recent immigrants, people on fixed incomes, people with disabilities, and those just out of prison. Ninety-five per cent of the people who come in here qualify."

Besides recycling bicycles, BRV also helps people learn marketable bike repair skills. They train repairers referred by the state divisions of the Blind and Visually Impaired and Vocational Rehabilitation and by special education departments in area schools. Rowell, a former elementary school teacher, coordinates the training and volunteer activities of 25 students each week during the school year. Champlain College students volunteer to fulfill their community service requirements. Volunteers also come to BRV to be trained for the fun of it.

Eighteen months ago BRV became a self-supporting project of Local Motion, a Burlington-based non-profit, which promotes safe bicycling, walking, running, and in-line skating. This organization helped BRV develop a long-term strategic plan that emphasizes its educational programs.

BRV depends on its volunteers, and it can use more of them, Manganiello says. If you are mechanically inclined, they will be happy to train you in bicycle repair. If you don't relish the idea of taking a bicycle apart, BRV also needs people who have skills in data entry, teaching, and writing grant proposals. They could also use a receptionist.

Sister Mary Kelley, 69, has spent most of her life with a missionary order in Tanzania in Africa. These days, she lives with the Sisters of Providence in Winooski and spends one day each week at BRV taking old bicycles apart and repairing them. "I never thought that I'd be able to change a tire. I wish I had known this kind of thing years ago," she says.

Sister Kelley came to BRV upon the advice of a friend. She wanted a bicycle but could not afford to buy one. After she was fitted with a three-speed English bike, recently donated, she says, by an 84-year-old man - an old bike, but in very good shape - she decided to volunteer at the shop. "You meet all kinds of people here," she says. "It's a blessing in my life."

Chason Phillips, 11, a student at Edmunds Middle School came in for a bike, and now he volunteers on Wednesday afternoons. He has learned how to remove seats from bikes and change brakes and tires.

In his former life, Manganiello sold computers and worked as an energy auditor for Burlington Electric. "I never had a conversation with a homeless person," he says, "did not know much about bike repair, and never ran a non-profit." In his current life, he is doing all of these things and loving it.

"This is the most challenging thing I have ever done," Manganiello says.

Manganiello cherishes the individual stories. He has learned that some homeless people have difficulty walking, but they can ride. He has given a bike to a homeless man with diabetes, who used it to ride twenty miles each day and was grateful to lose thirty pounds. He received "a beautiful bike" from a donor in Hyde Park and found the perfect recipient - an African refugee who had worked as a dentist for fifteen years in a leper colony. "Insanity happens here at BRV," he says, "boredom never. If you are interested and open, wonderful things can happen."

For information about bicycles, training, and volunteering, contact:
Bike Recycle Vermont - 802-264-9687