(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)
It’s way too early for us to start talking about Christmas, but we’ll make an exception for this story.
Today in east Portland the non-profit Community Cycling Center will pick up $10,000 worth of new bikes from The Lumberyard. The CCC’s Melinda Musser says the donation will include 32 “high quality” BMX bikes.
Musser says the “unprecedented” donation will help kick-start the organization’s annual Holiday Bike Drive and provide a new fleet of bikes to use in their kids programs next year. The CCC runs summer camps and bike safety programs in neighborhoods where some families can’t afford to buy bikes. And in December the CCC will give away about 300 bikes at their 20th annual Holiday Bike Drive.
Advertisement
(Photo: The Lumberyard)
The Lumberyard is a bike park that boasts 66,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor tracks, trails, and jumps. Since opening in 2012, The Lumberyard has planted itself firmly in the community. They have kids summer camps of their own and they even have a high school scholarship program.
This is the second bit of exciting news from the CCC this week. On Monday they unveiled a new website and video.
— Jonathan Maus, (503) 706-8804 – jonathan@bikeportland.org
Way to go, Lumberyard!
Love that place, and this is a good reminder that it’s been too long since we’ve visited.
the lumberyard is awesome! that is an incredible gift for a local business to make. way to go!
Thank you, Lumberyard. Think of all the excited kids this will benefit!
It’s reasons like this that make me happy to sign my son up for camps and lessons at the Lumberyard. Supporting the LY means I’m also supporting my community. Nice work, folks! We are a better city with your business presence.
Lumberyard and CCC are both in NORTHeast Portland… or maybe you meant outer Northeast Portland… where are people drawing the line between inner and outer? I draw the line at I-205, although I’d understand if people want to use 82nd… unless there’s an inner, central, and outer area…
I vote for 205 being more accurate and useful these days. 82nd is just arbitrary since annexation.
FYI, the the City Auditor Office defines “East Portland” (outside the 4 quadrants) as
“… as the region east of 82nd Avenue and Interstate 205, and bordered by the Columbia River on the north, Gresham to the east and Happy Valley and Clackamas County to the south. East Portland is home to 13 of the city’s 95 neighborhood associations.”
Src: http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2014/04/east_portland_audit_examines_n.html
Very cool! I hope the donation included security cameras… 😉
The Lumberyard is awesome and I applaud their generosity, but I wonder… there are a number of low income families that can’t afford to ride there, including many in the neighborhood they’re located in (Madison South). If they could keep even a small number of those bicycles as low/no cost rentals, they might be able to entice even poor families to participate.
Bicycle rental is nearly 1/2 of the $36 they charge an 8 year old that doesn’t have a bike, so dropping that to $20 would be significant for a family with little disposable income.
They need to keep the lights on, too (especially as a relatively new, and spendy to run, business). That being said, they do run some nice specials. http://lumberyardmtb.com/weekly-specials/
It’s a good point, and I do understand that they’re a for-profit business. That said, I used to live around the corner and would often stop in for a pint and some pizza. Nearly everytime I came in, there were less than 10 kids riding. I know a number of families in the area, and while most were appreciative of the Lumberyard’s presence, there were numerous comments regarding its unnaffordability.
@ greshamite… My interpretation of this story is that the bikes a donated to CCC for the holiday drive, to be given to kids in need.
Getting kids on bikes is the end game here.
I cant afford to go to LY with my kid more than 2 or 3 times a year at best myself.
Not the issue.
I do wish cycling was cheaper as well.
Pump tracks in parks everywhere !…that’s my answer to this dilemma.
Here-here to getting kids on bikes, and I’ll second the call for pump tracks! Thank you Lumberyard+!
Yep. Please stay informed and get involved with the Mtb Master Plan process. We need pump tracks everywhere, as well as skills parks. It’s asinine that there isn’t a single legal dirtjump in all of Portland. Every kid should be able to ride to a place to ride their bike.
When I was a kid we made our own dirt track in a vacant lot. Do kids go outside on their own and do anything like that anymore?
Mine will.
The Lumberyard is actively working to get more kids on bikes, especially those who are under privileged. Continued work with the Community Cycling Center should help, as well as ongoing efforts with organizations such as the SUN Community Programs…
Just an FYI, I run a Bike Repair/BMX Riding SUN Class out of Vestal Elementary, where half our classes are teaching repair at the school, and the other half are field trips to The Lumberyard to learn BMX riding skills, with transportation and “on-demand” rentals provided, free of charge, by The Lumberyard. (plugs: facebook.com/ridelikevikings twitter: @ridelikevikings )
It’s not my place to know or inquire re: the economic status of my students and their families, but I am fairly confident that The Lumberyard’s amazing support of this program certainly counts as support of low income families. Unfortunately, as I am bad at PR, and am also just a volunteer parent/teacher with limited time, this amazing opportunity for the kids is not very well known at this point.
And your idea is certainly not a bad one, @Bart. But as an east-of-82nd resident, I think any business that is A) doing this level of charitable donation for spreading cycling to low income kids, and B) putting SERIOUS economic skin in the game by operating such an amazing business in an area that is in such desperate need of community and business growth deserves, maybe, a bit more props, rather than second-guessing?
I dunno. It’s probably just that I’ve discovered BMX track, just shy of 40, and have a huge man-crush on The Lumberyard. Oh well, better than a Ferarri, right?
That’s great to hear you’re making a difference at Vestal @Tyler (seriously, thank you!), and I’m thrilled to hear about Lumberyard’s support of your program, especially the bike rentals. While not published, I’m not surprised. They seem to have a number of undocumented community contributions. When I lived in the neighborhood they shared their space with the 82nd Ave Improvement Coalition, the Jason Lee PTA, they hosted neighborhood planning meetings and events like the Madison South BBQ, and they’ve been significant supporters of the Gateway Green project. They do so much more than just bikes, they’re in it for all the right reasons, and I can’t say enough good things about them, they’re awesome!
I didn’t intend to belittle their gesture in any way; I found it moving. I only meant to share an observation that they might have an equally profound impact with less resources (lowering cost while serving more kids) and if they hadn’t yet considered it, this might be another channel to explore.
Been meaning to reply all day, but thanks for the props, and like I said before, it IS a good idea (I mean, “not bad” is one way of saying “good, I guess 😛 ). Didn’t mean to jump on you, and really, the main thing I wanted to add and make people aware of is that The Lumberyard is definitely doing stuff in the 82nd Ave community area to get lower income kids on bikes.
So keep up the good ideas/being part of the conversation, and thanks again.
Poor people are not going to ride Lumberyard for a very specific reason, they are poor and hurting themselves for more than a day could make life worse. It seems more that poor people are weighing their potential for long term health protection, over the joys of putting self in a situation were a broken arm could make them homeless.
If my boy were still motivated to bmx, we’d still have a season pass at the Lumberyard. Fantastic place and run by really good people!!!
The daily price can get pricey if you go multiple times. If you’ve got a kid who would be there multiple times a week, do the math for a per day cost…it’s totally worth it to have a safe environment where they can get rad year round!