October is Fundraising Month at Sibley!
Well, it's certainly been an exciting year at the Sibley Bike Depot! Every day, our shop is crowded with energetic hands tinkering with brakes, tweaking derailleurs, oiling chains, and keeping bikes greased and happy. With your support, we can ensure that Sibley Bike Depot stays open and free to the public, providing many valuable resources to promote bicycling as an ecologically sustainable and personally empowering transportation option.
We have set a goal of raising $10,000 by November 15 in order to keep our doors open and our staff employed through the winter. Your gift helps keep our Open Shop open and staffed for 20 hours per week in the summer - over 700 hours per year! - so that thousands of Twin Cities cyclists can repair their own bikes for free. Your contribution will makes sure that our adult bike maintenance classes - attended by over 300 community members this year - remain free to everybody. Reaching our goal of raising $10,000 will help keep Earn-a-Bike classes available to more than 150 public school students every year. You can support one of these students for just $35.
In another exciting development, the Sibley Bike Depot recently received a large federal grant to launch the Community Partners Bike Library - an innovative bike library program where Sibley will build a fleet of bikes for long-term loan to low-income Twin Cities residents who lack affordable, reliable transportation. However, Sibley currently lacks the funds to handle the full logistical requirements of the program; reaching our campaign goal of $10,000 is critical to making the Bike Library program a big success!
Your contribution goes a long way toward making sure we continue to provide the many valuable services we offer free of charge to everyone. Please consider donating online at www.sibleybikedepot.org to support us at one of these donation levels:
-$15 - Help us keep our Open Shop free to the public
-$35 - Pay to put one youth through Sibley's Junior Mechanics earn-a-bike class
-$100 - Donate $100 of more and get a free two-hour bike maintenance class for you and five friends
-$250 - Double your contribution by paying a mechanic for a week to fix bikes for our sales floor
Thank you for your support during this difficult economic time. Your generosity is deeply appreciated by all the dedicated volunteers who help make Sibley thrive as well as the many different members of our diverse Twin Cities community who rely on this important space. See what our volunteers and community members have to say about us by watching the video on our homepage at www.sibleybikedepot.org
Yours,
Jason Tanzman, and the Board and Staff at the Sibley Bike Depot