Pamplin Media Group – WashCo Bikes pedals on after burglary, adapts to pandemic

Hillsboro-based WashCo Bikes acquired an outpouring of assist after a latest housebreaking, however the want continues.

When Joe Kurmaskie acquired a name from a police officer late at evening on Sept. 14, his first thought was, “Which grownup child are you calling about?” mentioned Kurmaskie, the daddy of 4 sons.

Fortunately, his youngsters weren’t in bother.

When the officer mentioned he was from the Hillsboro Police Division, Kurmaskie instantly knew somebody had damaged into WashCo Bikes Neighborhood Bike Heart, the nonprofit bike store primarily based in Hillsboro, which Kurmaskie runs.

“I mentioned inform me if there are any bikes nonetheless within the store,” Kurmaskie mentioned, including that the glass door on the entrance had been smashed.

In actual fact, the one factor that was stolen was the costliest merchandise within the store — a brand-new, $2,000 electrical bicycle that had been introduced within the day earlier than.

To Kurmaskie’s amazement, after posting concerning the housebreaking on social media, neighborhood members donated sufficient to cowl prices associated to the incident inside 24 hours. Nike even stepped in to donate two electrical bikes, Kurmaskie mentioned.

“It was superb to me,” Kurmaskie mentioned.

He says the neighborhood response after the housebreaking is one more instance of how folks have stepped as much as hold the group, which depends on donations, afloat throughout the coronavirus pandemic. However he says WashCo Bikes remains to be in want of assist, and the group remains to be adapting its applications for the pandemic.

“We nonetheless have a necessity as a result of we’re getting the bikes out to youngsters and households and folks which might be on their third shifts, and even the folks on the primary and second shifts, who simply aren’t driving (TriMet),” Kurmaskie mentioned.

The nonprofit promotes bicycling by training, advocacy and neighborhood occasions throughout Washington County. It organizes bike security applications corresponding to bike rodeos and summer time camps for youth. It additionally donates bikes to kids and adults in want by its Undertake-a-Bike program. Donated bikes and bike elements are refurbished, and bikes that are not used for its core applications are bought at discounted charges on the store, situated at 137 N.E. Third St.

Kurmaskie mentioned a fast enhance in demand for bikes, which occurred throughout the nation within the early months of the pandemic, additionally affected WashCo Bikes, as folks shifted away from public transit. The scarcity of bikes and bike elements he often experiences throughout peak summer time bike driving season occurred in April and Might, Kurmaskie mentioned, and it has continued into late September.

That is why Kurmaskie remains to be asking folks to contemplate donating any bikes, bike elements or biking gear they will not use. He mentioned all the things is required besides bike helmets — OHSU Doernbecher Youngsters’s Hospital, an everyday WashCo Bikes companion for bike security occasions, already donated greater than 700 helmets.

Like most nonprofits, WashCo Bikes has tailored its applications for social distancing, retaining the store stuffed with exercise.

Kurmaskie has rearranged the store to permit volunteers who restore bikes to be at a distance. Interns who in earlier years would have solely labored on the store throughout the summer time have been capable of retaining working into the autumn as a result of a lot of them are faculty college students who have not returned to their campuses.

WashCo Bikes has additionally tailored its Undertake-a-Bike program.

“It was very COVID-non-friendly,” Kurmaskie mentioned. “We would pack an auditorium full of youngsters. All of my employees and volunteers could be adjusting and repairing bikes and becoming helmets.”

WashCo Bikes has produced movies for folks to study the identical data they might hear at an Undertake-a-Bike faculty occasion. Kurmaskie additionally coordinates with lecturers and counselors who suppose a scholar is in want of a motorbike, they usually discover instances to ship the tools.

“As a substitute of folding our arms and saying, ‘Effectively, we will not try this anymore,’ we have tailored,” Kurmaskie mentioned, including that WashCo Bikes remains to be offering comparable numbers of bikes by this system to what it did earlier than the pandemic.

He is additionally planning to host some smaller, socially-distanced bike rodeos this fall.

Kurmaskie mentioned the pandemic has compelled folks inside extra, which has solely elevated folks’s have to get out of the home and keep lively, particularly when youngsters haven’t got their regular bodily training lessons.

“If I can assist increase bodily exercise by biking proper now, we will discover a option to do it,” Kurmaskie mentioned.