Santa Cruz, California, Bike Church

The borrowed bicycle I was using in Santa Cruz needed some work, so I took it on down to the Bike Church in Downtown, a non-profit bicycle DIY repair shop and recyclery.

Anyone can come to the Bike Church and learn how to repair their contraption, with a requested contribution of $5/hour for the use of the bike stands and tools. Replacement parts are super-dee-duper cheap, and they even have ready-to-ride recycled bikes for sale also on the cheap. Memberships are also available for $20/month, $50/year, or $100/life. They hold biweekly meetings, which are open to the public, and operate via consensus of the volunteers.

The Bike Church is located in a lovely little enclave right next to SubRosa, an anarchist cafe, and the Computer Kitchen, a non-profit web development organization (a non-profit to serve non-profits). Arriving there Saturday afternoon, it was a lively place, with folks working together to solve bike issues (I saw a group of four people gathered around one person's bike, discussing what might be the best way to fix it). Free cupcakes, hard-boiled eggs, and other snacks were sitting on the counter for anyone to take, and the man behind the counter, Tom, offered me the goodies a couple times. He said that he he works for a place where they have leftover food sometimes and he brings it on down.

Tom has been working with the Bike Church for 5-6 months as a volunteer. He expressed satisfaction that the Church is not around to "make a buck, but to help people," and described the organization as "loose, trusting, and old-school." Tom directed me to A.J., a volunteer mechanic. A.J., a.k.a. Arthur Lee Jones the 4th, has worked with the Bike Church for 1.5 years. He said that the Church is all-volunteer run, but that the mechanics can participate in a "clerkship" above and beyond their 3 shifts a week, which is paid $15/hr. The c lerkships involve accounting and outreach duties, among other clerical and side work for the Church.

I was surprised to learn how well they were doing economically as an organization. They have no problem paying their rent in the primo downtown location, and are even saving up money to purchase the space. Even more surprising is that they survive on donations and sales only, not at all on grants. In the world of non-profits, that's practically unheard-of.

When asked the golden 'hope question:' What about the Bike Church gives you hope for the future?, A.J. said that he though they were making it possible for people to take control of their own transportation- people who, without the Bike Church, bicycling would not be possible. He said that a large proportion of their customers are 'down on their luck.' Their low-cost help teaches and empowers people to be able to take the maintenance of their bike into their own hands. I would interject here that this hands-on work may also be therapeutic to the folks coming in, giving them a sense of pride in their capabilities and ownership of their work.

The BC encourage utilitarian usage of bikes through the sale of new and used baskets, lights, and saddle-bags.He likes to think that the BC is reducing car traffic in Santa Cruz, but fears that most of the traffic is tourist-driven, who do not tend to visit the BC or bike in Santa Cruz at all. (Hey, A.J., maybe y'all could start a bike rental service?).