Hello, and Season's Greetings from re-Cycles!
The COVID pandemic made 2020 a challenging year for the community and for re-Cycles. While many of our regular volunteer staff were understandably not comfortable with helping out at the shop, those who were managed to deal with a huge demand for bikes and parts.
We've also had some other big things going on.
2020 was a major anniversary, marking twenty years of re-Cycles paying the rent! (Though we've been around since 1996.) At the same time, the building we've occupied since 2010 was sold in October. With our lease coming up for renewal at the end of this year and knowing that the new owners eventually wanted to move in, we needed to find a new space. This also means that our shop-sharing partnership with Cycle Salvation that began back in 2008 is coming to an end.
So in February 2021 re-Cycles will be moving to a new location close to where we are now. We'll have more details about that and when we will re-open our doors as soon as we can. And so, a new chapter in the life of our shop will begin.
As for me, I joined re-Cycles as a volunteer in April 2001, and became part-time paid Coordinator a few years later. So next April will mark twenty years for me as well. Everyone else with re-Cycles is a volunteer. Many of them have been around for over fifteen years, and a few from even before I started!
As this odd and often difficult year draws to a close, I would very much like to thank:
* Our donors. Because if we don't get donations of bikes and parts the shop would not exist. These bikes and parts help us supply and support an amazing community, and the sale of these items covers the majority of our operating costs.
* Our customers. Especially this year, when we all had to face the challenges of bike and parts sales during a pandemic.
* Our Board of Directors, for its hard work through some rather challenging experiences. Our Board is comprised of staff members, so all decisions are made by people who work directly with or in the shop.
* And last but certainly not least: our volunteer staff, especially the ones this year who helped with the bike and parts sales, and who helped in other ways to keep the shop running. When the pandemic hit, we closed the shop to see what would happen, and we polled our staff to see who was willing to help once we started back up. We also knew that we could not offer our very popular DIY evenings, and likely would not for the entire year. That was a hard fact to accept, as many of our staff consider that their favourite thing to do at re-Cycles.
To everyone: please have safe and hopefully happy holiday time, and we'll see you very soon at our new shop!
Mark Rehder - Coordinator
re-Cycles Community Bike Shop
http://re-cycles.ca