Shop hours for March are as follows:
Tuesdays – March 1, 8, 15, 22, and 29 – 7 PM to 9 PM
Thursdays – March 3, 10, 17, 24, and 31 – 7 PM to 9 PM
Sundays – March 13, 20, and 27 – Noon to 4 PM We will be closed March 6.
We have a special blitz scheduled with Downtown Congregations to End Homelessness the week of March 13 through 20. DCEH volunteers will come to the shop during our open hours to repair bicycles for this year’s outreach. We also will have a DCEH Blitz on Saturday, March 19 from 10 AM to 4 PM.
We did our taxes and MMRB made a very slight profit, which means that we reached our break-even goal. We will be looking at ways to increase sales to the point where we can invest a little more in the shop and further outreach activities. We also have decided to close our wait list for the next several weeks so we can get caught up. Our goal is to get the wait time down to 3 weeks or less, and we won’t be able to do that without clearing the backlog. We plan to open the list again around mid-April so people can get bicycles earlier in the season than otherwise would be possible.
We have given away 59 bicycles so far in 2011, which puts us way ahead of where we were at the same time last year. We are running about 1 a day, which for winter is pretty good. We want to break the 2010 record of 532, so we need to keep up the pace. Our recent kid bike Blitz to benefit Project for Pride in Living allowed us to fix and give away 19 bicycles in just one afternoon! We plan to continue to work with these partners to get more bicycles out to those who need them.
Our Community Recycling Day schedule for the Spring is as follows:
Saturday, April 16 – Fridley
Saturday, April 30 – Andover
Saturday, May 7 – Coon Rapids
Saturday, June 11 – Centerville
You don’t have to be a mechanic to help us out at these events. Call 651-641-1037 or e-mail [email protected] to get more information. We collect bicycles and tear apart the ones we don’t need, then haul them back to the shop and unload them. They usually feed us at these events, and we have a good time so consider joining us, or come to the shop for the unloading and then we will buy you a beer.
We have lots of cool stuff for sale in the shop, so come by and hunt for parts, accessories, or maybe another project bike. All proceeds go toward keeping the doors open and the lights on. Hope to see you soon at the shop.