Altruism is never outdated

Here at Chevin Cycles, we like to think that our local communities are important. There are so many impact factors on everyone these days, with some members of society suffering more so than others. This includes the tragic cases of the Ukrainian people, whose families have had to flee their homeland in the last 12 months, purely to try and stay alive. Finding a safe place to live within the altruistic communities of Yorkshire, they still have many challenges. Then of course, there are other groups, more local to us, living in difficult circumstances.

Altruism is never outdated, and we’re constantly inspired by people like John, and the team of volunteers at Resurrection Bikes, Harrogate, who give their time and energy to fix up donated bikes and pass them on to those in particular need, including refugee families and people referred to them.

Who are Resurrection Bikes

John, a businessman and accountant by profession, knows exactly how important and how impactive financial issues can be to some families. He’s also one of the most amazingly kind people that you’re likely to meet, and has used his passion for helping us to create what has grown to become a community of like-minded cyclists within Harrogate, who form the team at Resurrection Bikes. We went along recently, to find out more about their story.

About 10 years ago, John’s daughter was looking to raise money for a charity trip and project, and the two of them decided to try and get people to donate unwanted bikes, which he fixed up and sold on cheaply, raising the necessary funds for his daughter’s charity project. As with all good ideas, this soon expanded, and John ended up doing more bikes and raising significant funds for a number of locally based good causes. Bikes started coming in thick and fast, and it was obvious that there was both a need for people to be able to get a bike cheaply, either for leisure (young families) or work (commuting), and a willing community of kind-hearted people within Harrogate willing to donate their own unwanted bicycles.

The Resurrection team

Eventually, putting together a team to help him, they were able to find their current premises, close to Cold Bath Road, Harrogate, gain lottery funding and have now set up a well-oiled system that is simply quite impressive in every way. The volunteers work in teams of two, each team on a different day, and they resource the busy workshop. Bikes are now, not only donated by individuals, but also by large organisations, including ourselves here at Chevin Cycles.

Donate a Bike with Chevin Cycles

If you’ve visited a Chevin Cycles store recently, or looked at our website, you’ll have noticed that we currently have a trade-in deal activate. If you bring in your old bike, we’ll give you a guaranteed discount off your new purchase, and the trade-in bike will then go to John and the team at Resurrection Bikes, where it’ll be given a new lease of life and either donated free of charge to a very worthwhile person, or sold on at a very reasonable price to somebody whose finances can’t run to a brand new bike, with any money raised from the sales being be donated to the local causes supported by John and the Resurrection Bikes team.

Change small worlds 🙂

As you can see, it’s a purely altruistic arrangement in which everyone benefits, and these old bikes are also recycled in a very positive way. If you’re handy with a bike spanner, or you’ve got a bike to donate, then why not give John and the team a call.

Alternatively, you can trade-in your bike here at Chevin Cycles, and we’ll do the rest, also supplying you with one of the best bikes currently available from the world’s leading brands, whilst making sure that your old set of wheels helps out somebody whose life might just be changed by having access to a bike.

We can’t change the world on our own, but like John, we can change small worlds, and simple gifts such as this can make somebody’s life so much better. Let’s all do more in 2023, to give what we can to others, even if that gift is just our time – because ultimately, time is the most precious gift of all.