Volunteer opportunities at the Sacramento Bicycle Kitchen

[Ryan Sharpe]

It's been a while since our last e-mail to the volunteer list, but I want to assure you that we're still keeping busy over at the Kitchen.  We've got some positions to fill, upcoming events to keep in mind, and some reminders about what we've been up to, so let's get right down to it:

Positions to fill
Waste Coordinator

It's not the sexiest sounding title, but we need a volunteer who's willing to take responsibility for consistently clearing out our scrap metal pile and helping to make sure the trash and recycling bins are put out on Monday night.  We don't care where the scrap goes (as long as it's taken care of in an environmentally responsible manner) and we don't even care if you do the hauling, we just care that it gets gone.

Clerk (Tuesday)

With the spring semester starting up again, our Tuesday clerking corps has been decimated.  We're looking for a pair of volunteers to check patrons in, triage basic bike problems, match patrons up with mechanics, and handle the cash.  Clerking is a great way to start volunteering at SBK, and as a former Tuesday clerk myself, I can assure you it's a particularly wonderful night to work.

Clerk (Kids' Night)

Speaking of clerking, we need clerks for our Friday night kids/families shift.  The duties are a little different from a normal clerk shift -- less money handling, more worries about signed waivers from parents -- but if you've got the patience and drive to help young'uns, this is the night for you. 

Upcoming events
Fremont Park Bike Swap: Saturday, April 10

Sacramento's movers and shakers are working to put together a bike swap at Fremont Park this April.  SBK held some bike swaps at our old location, but we've been pretty quiet on this front since we moved to midtown.  Old bikes finding new owners is a big part of our mission, and if you want to help out planning the event, working it, or just representing SBK, give us a holler.

Earth Day: Thursday, April 22 or Friday, April 23

The City of Sacramento is sponsoring an Earth Day party again this year on April 22 or 23 (depending on weather), and has invited SBK to take part.  Details are still a bit sketchy, but we'll let you know when they're filled out.

Other Reminders
Cleanup Day

Our Second Saturday parties always leave the shop a horrifying mess, so we spend the next day cleaning up the shop, reorganizing tools, and figuring out inventive new ways to use the same boring old space.  There's always plenty to do, and if you've got an idea on how to better organize our cranks or sort hubs, this is the day to show us.  This is also the day we hold our guidance ("Core") meetings

Volunteer Night: Mondays

Just a reminder: SBK is open every Monday night from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm for recent volunteers to work on their own projects, with some snacks provided by your friendly neighborhood DIY bike maintenance cooperative.  It's our way of saying thanks for helping out, and giving you a chance to wrench on your own bike for a change.

Staff e-mail list

Continuing on with organizational openness, we've started a separate e-mail list for our "staff" volunteers; those volunteers that we've come to rely upon to work a regular shift or take on a specific responsibility (see also: waste coordinator) around the shop.  We sent out invitations recently, but knowing us, we probably missed quite a few of our regular volunteers.  If we overlooked you, pop us an e-mail and we'll see about getting you on the list.

Volunteer orientation

We're changing our volunteer orientation schedules a bit.  Running it every week wasn't working for us, 8:00 pm was a bit late, and we didn't feel we did a good job introducing prospective volunteers to their prospective jobs.  Going forward, volunteer orientations are going to be every other Monday, at 7:00 pm (during our volunteers-only shift), and while the orientations will always be general-purpose, we're going to try to make them a little more job-focused as well, so clerks- and mechanics-to-be can look forward to a brief how-to course.

If anything above piques your interest, you can e-mail either of our volunteer coordinators to volunteer or get more information: Ryan S. at sha...@sacbikekitchen.org or Emjay at em...@sacbikekitchen.org.  The Sacramento Bicycle Kitchen's only as strong as our volunteer corps, so we're always happy to have help!


--Ryan S.

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Sacramento Bicycle Kitchen
http://sacbikekitchen.org/
1915 I Street, Midtown Sacramento
Open Tu 6-9p, We 6-9p, Th 6-9p, Fr 10a-2p (kids 6-8p), Sa 12-4p