July 19, 2015
1942
It was a hot job, Saturday morning, as a group of Lions Club members and friends gathered at the farm of Brent Crawford, north of Tiverton, to load bicycles for shipping to Cape Town, South Africa.
The project was spearheaded by immediate-past-District A-9 Governor Hank VanMoorsel, a member of the Tiverton Lions Club, who initiated the Cycle Recycle program when he was governor last year. The district includes 43 clubs stretching from Tobermory to Orangeville to Mitchell.
Hundreds of bikes were donated and club members throughout the district helped fix them up. Saturday morning, the transport trailer arrived and it was time to load as many bikes as would fit, into the container for shipping.
Led by Bob Evans of Toronto, part of Bikes for the World out of Washington, D.C., the group managed to load 497 bikes into the trailer in four-and-a-half hours.
Before they were loaded, the bikes had to have their handle-bars turned sideways and the pedals removed and attached to the bikes, making them easier to load, and allowing volunteers to fit more into the container.
Evans said about 18 bikes fit per row, with a piece of plywood put between the two rows. On top of the two rows more bikes were laid on their side. About 60 bikes fit per column, and there weree eight columns in the container. In amongst the regular bikes, small children's bikes and parts and tires were added to fill the container and keep the bikes from shifting during shipping.
The trailer was heading to Toronto, Saturday, and from there to South Africa. Cost to ship the container is $5,000.
VanMoorsel said before they began loading the bikes onto the trailer, there were more than 900 on site. He hopes to send another trailer of bikes next spring. The cost is partially covered, thanks to a generous donation from the Blyth Lions Club. But that container will be the final one for the Cycle Recycle project, he said.
"We will continue to accept donations of funding, and helmets and tires to go with that second container," said VanMoorsel. "But then, that's it."
Written ByLiz Dadson is the founder and editor of the Kincardine Record and has been in the news business since 1986.
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