Center of Hope’s Bike to Work Ministry offers bicycles and tune-ups—all the offerings of a full-service bike shop—at a reduced cost to locals who have no other means of transportation.
“Is there anyone doing any kind of ministry with skateboards or bikes?”
That was Linda Gold’s question to the RCA as she figured out how to connect the theme of her church’s vacation Bible school to a fundraiser for an RCA ministry. G-Force, the VBS curriculum, was themed around wheels of all kinds—BMX bikes, skateboards, wheelchairs. So Gold, minister of First Reformed Church in College Point, New York, called up Center of Hope, an RCA ministry in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for some advice.
Center of Hope’s Bike to Work Ministry offers bicycles and tune-ups—all the offerings of a full-service bike shop—at a reduced cost to locals who have no other means of transportation.
“[Bikes are] their only form of transportation,” says John Blok, bike ministry coordinator. “They can’t afford to drive, don’t have a license, or are transitioning out of jail or the prison system. We have guys come in in the middle of winter, when you and I wouldn’t even think of using bicycles, and they need a tune-up.”
After talking with Center of Hope, Gold decided that the money raised during First Reformed’s VBS would go toward new tubes and tires for bicycles in Sioux Falls.
“It’s ten dollars for tubes and tires,” Gold explained to the children at VBS. “Ten dollars could be the difference between something someone could ride and something they couldn’t.” They ended up raising $180.54—or, in terms the children could understand—18 sets of tubes and tires.
Which meant that, thanks to some children in New York and their pocket change, 18 more people in Sioux Falls could get to work.
“We do what we can, even though we’re little,” says Gold. “You have to be more creative when you’re little.”
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