Volunteer

Thanks for your interest in volunteering at the Bike Kitchen! We welcome volunteers of any skill level. The Bike Kitchen is a 100% volunteer-run organization -- we depend on the generous efforts of volunteers. Your role as a volunteer will be defined by your specific skills and interest, and we regularly have volunteer tasks that require no mechanical experience whatsoever.

How do I volunteer?

Simply drop into the shop at any time during our open hours to start volunteering. We take volunteers on a strictly first come, first served basis. We typically cannot take more than three or four volunteers during any one shift, so arriving at the shop as close to the beginning of a shift as possible is best. Please be prepared to volunteer for a minimum of one hour.

Why volunteer with us?

Our shop is open to everybody, regardless of what they can or cannot afford, and some parts or the cost of a membership can be earned through volunteering. Six hours of volunteer time will get you a one-year membership, and another six hours will earn you digging rights to build a complete bike. We also offer community service credit for school.

Can I volunteer as a mechanic?

Absolutely! If you are an experienced mechanic, we almost always have a place for you to drop in, regardless of how many other volunteers we have that day. Please visit our wiki page at to read about the mechanic requirements, and feel free to drop into the shop at any time to speak with one of us and jump in.

I love you guys & I wanna become staff!

If you are familiar with the shop and are interested in volunteering to become a staff, please visit the Becoming Staff section of our Handbook to learn more. In addition to having mechanics on staff, we are also always looking for committed folks to train as a shift greeter. This role is vital to our shop and requires the ability to accurately answer all questions regarding our donations, membership, bike tagging, and parts sale/trading policies, in addition to signing folks in. Find out more about what it takes to be a greeter!

If you have additional questions about how volunteering works, simply drop into the shop during open hours or email volunteer [at] bikekitchen [dot] org. To learn more about how the organization runs, check out our wiki.

Donate

In March 2009, the Bike Kitchen moved to a new location. Please consider donating in this transitional time!

The Bike Kitchen relies on donations for all of its parts and most of its tools. We will accept most parts and bikes in good condition with useable and serviceable parts that are free of rust and excessive wear. Unfortunately we cannot accept any mass-market department store bikes such as Huffys and Murrays. We especially need:

• Functional, straight 27" and 700c wheels
• 20" BMX style wheels
• Seats
• Complete seatposts
• Complete bottom brackets
• Complete headsets
• One-speed freewheel cogs
• complete cranksets and paired crank arms
• chainrings for road cranks (all sizes)
• complete working brakes (road, V, and cantilever)

Please contact our donations coordinator (rezrezrez [at] fastmail [dot] fm) with inquiries about parts donations.