Communicycle Beaver County Inc

Orr core purpose is to build relationships within the neighborhoods we serve - so that the people we help become engaged and involved, and ideally join with one of our numerous local area churches.

We go to into neighborhoods weekly to repair bikes, and meet people where they are. They are always welcoming and glad to see us - opens the door to discussion. We are also renovating donated building space on the city's main street to be a visible and available place for people to find us.

We are blessed with a unique opportunity - we are welcomed into neighborhoods to repair bikes at no cost, and offer the ability to earn a bike. People that hear about the program like it and offer donations of used bikes. Bikes that can't be used are stripped for spare parts. Each year, we end with more bikes and more repair parts than we started with, even though we are getting busier each year. Local churches at partnering, which is providing volunteers.

This provides a history of our organization. Communicycle is an outreach ministry whose purpose is to build and strengthen Christian relationships within our communities through a youth bike program. It began in 2011 when a boy asked us to fix his bike while we built a handicapped ramp in Aliquippa. The bike was special, because he and his grandfather had worked on it before he passed away. When we fixed and returned that bike, 2 other boys quickly approached and asked if we fix bikes. The need, and opportunity for personal outreach in the community, became evident.

We began to collect used bikes and parts, and bought our first bike tools. We obtained a small donated building space on Franklin Avenue to offer repairs and bike earnings to people who visited. The word gradually spread, and we spent two years becoming increasingly busier repairing bikes on the sidewalk in front of the store.

In 2013 we expanded into a larger part of the building to house the increasing number of bike donations, and did our first neighborhood repair visit by partnering with an Aliquippa church that held an outreach in a housing complex. The increased opportunity to serve people where they live led us to purchase a trailer to create a mobile bike repair shop.

We visit 15+ Aliquippa neighborhoods on a rotating basis through the year, and attend numerous other church / community events. We encourage kids and adults to use the tools and do the repairs with us, providing great one on one sharing and learning time. During each event, we have a time where we put down the tools and gather for a devotion or conversation. We repair an average of 20 to 30 bikes during each neighborhood event.

Invitations to other areas continue to grow, and in 2016/2017, we attended events with numerous other churches in our surrounding communities, including Beaver Falls, Independence Twp, Midland, Monaca, Robinson Twp, and Wexford. This has led to two expansion programs, and increasing interest in others starting Communicycle programs.

In 2017, we formed Communicycle Beaver County as a separate 501c3 to focus on growth and expansion opportunities, while local programs focus on outreach in their communities.