What a cool, cool non-profit – teaching to fish, long lasting change (World Mag article about Beltline Bike Shop)

what a great grassroots non profit

The link above will take you to a story about the Beltline Bike Shop in Atlanta, GA, a non-profit where kids can go to fix up bikes and earn their way to a new bike.

Here’s a summary from Beltline’s website:

A kid hears about the shop.  He comes to the shop because he’s been told he can learn how to fix bikes.  As he learns how to fix bikes he also learns how to work hard along side other people while earning a bike of his own.  Through the shop, he realizes that hard work pays off.  This leads to him seeing opportunities in his neighborhood where he is able to leverage his skills to earn money.   As his skills grow, he gains confidence and improves his ability to shape his future.

It started with one couple helping one neighbor child fix his bike, and grew from there.  Isn’t this a fantastic story about two people over time building something that makes a lasting difference in the lives of kids nearby. Love the idea that the kids have to earn their bikes – so simple, but there is so much pride in earning something. Once you have that feeling that your actions led to something good, it sort of sticks with you

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