Hey, Sacramento! We wanted to reach out and update folks on what we’ve been up to and what the immediate future holds for the Sacramento Bicycle Kitchen!
Right off the bat, let’s just get the bad news out of the way– We are still closed to the public until further notice and do not have a date set to reopen. As SBK is 100% volunteer run, we rely on volunteer power to complete every task needed to keep the shop running. Most of our volunteers have day jobs and lives outside of the shop that are presently stressed under the current conditions. Some have children/elderly parents/immune compromised folks they live with or care for. Some have health conditions themselves. All these factors make coming in to the shop to work with the public too great a risk for a majority of folks.
As we would never ask our volunteers to compromise their safety, we are prolonging our closure for the time being while we gather more data and see how this thing shakes out. In the meantime, we are working on shifting our services to accommodate the reality we all will be dealing with for the next year or so. Thus far, we have started working in small groups to fix up bikes. These bikes will then be donated to various organizations and possibly sold by appointment or at a one-off outdoor social distance sale. We have already sent several bikes to the newly implemented Bike Match Sacramento program and are currently working on some for IRC Sacramento.
Donations – We have started accepting donations again- by appointment. If you are interested in bringing donations down to the shop, please email us at info@sacbikekitchen.org for an appointment. If you require pick up or are a retail bike shop, please continue to email us at donations@sacbikekitchen.org.
We have also temporarily broadened our guidelines for our financial donations to the community and made donations to Sacramento Food Bank, River City Food Bank, Central Downtown Food Basket, WEAVE, Stanford Settlement, Saint John’s Program for Real Change, and Washington Neighborhood Center. Please visit their websites for more info if you are able to donate! If you have a suggestion for an org that needs support due to the COVID crisis, email us at info@sacbikekitchen.org.
Keep an eye on our website or Facebook page for further updates about possible future sales as well as info on repair and maintenance classes, which we are in the process of transitioning to an online format. If you need a bike now, or have a bike that is ready to roll that you would like to donate directly to a person in need, we encourage you to check out Bike Match Sacramento. Stay Safe out there and we hope to see you soon!