Friday, October 20, 2023

Pressing Pause!

 Pressing Pause-

A huge thank you to everyone who donated bikes and spare parts to our charity, Bicycles for Humanity Victoria over the past 15 years. We are pressing the pause button on bike donations. No further bike donations accepted, please and thank you.
Over the past 15 years we have poured our hearts and souls into B4H, successfully collecting and shipping over 6000 good used bikes and spare parts to 4 African countries. Each and every bike collected and shipped has the unique power of helping change lives for the better through the gift of mobility.
We couldn't have done it with the generosity of the greater Victoria community and the help of volunteers.
Currently we have 500 Bikes in storage ready for one last shipment. After that we will be taking a break from Bicycles for Humanity Victoria. Special thanks to my wife Linda for her tireless support of this demanding charity. Special thanks also to John Robertson, who came on board with our second to 14th container loads. We (My wife Linda and I) were going to stop at one container load but John help made the difference and kept us going all these years. It's basically been the 3 of us doing all the heavy lifting for those 15 successful years, with a surge of volunteers at loading time.
It's been wonderful to give back in this special way. There is no doubt how important a simple sturdy bicycle is in Africa. That I saw first hand while cycling 12,000kms from Cairo to Cape Town back in 2008.
Good used bikes and spare parts can be donated to Compassionate Resources warehouse as well as Recyclistas.
Please note that they are not connected or affiliated with Bicycles for Humanity in any way.
Thanks again, best regards, Chris Wille founder and co-director, Bicycles for Humanity Victoria.

Monday, June 1, 2020

  Still Here!

.....................................................or maybe it should be "we're back!"


Hope everyone is well in this year of the Covid Virus.   My apologies for those of you who haven't had a reply from us in so so long.   We shall endeavour to do better in the future.

We have just been discussing whether or not we can carry the mission on for our twelfth container.   Yes 12!   And the answer is we are going to try and give it a go for this fall!   Our partners indicate there is still an overwhelming need for mobility in rural Africa and that bicycle donations seem to have fallen off.   So we will give it a try!

Interesting times indeed- I think many many bikes in Greater Victoria have been dusted off and are being ridden here.   This is great news- always better to ride them here than ship them halfway around the world.

If you do find yourself with a surplus bike drop us a line or even better yet drop it off.   
Brentwood Auto and Metal is still accepting bikes for us- Monday through Friday 8:00- 4:30.
Additionally Recyclistas on Crease Avenue. has new "Covid Hours" starting June 4th.  They will be open Thursday-Through Sunday 10 am- 6pm.  They will accept the bike.   Hang a B4H tag on it! 

Lastly I will leave you with some photos taken in Malawi this spring.   Asama Canada generously donated a huge load of parts and components to Zomba Malawi and we were thrilled to do the loading and shipping.   

Stay Safe.  John 





Thursday, May 9, 2019

Thanks


Special thanks to Pedro Arrais and the Times Colonist for once again publishing a super nice article for us.   The Spring weather has re-energized us and we hope to ship container #11 before summer. 
Hard to believe- 11 containers.  That a pile of bikes.    Drop us a line- we are back in action. 

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Tweed Ride Victoria!

Hey everyone.   Shipment #9 should be delivered to Zomba Malawi on about September 10th.  Good timing as that is the day of the Victoria Tweed Ride.   Thanks for the Tweed Ride Team for their continued support of B4H Victoria!
http://www.tweedridevictoria.ca/





Monday, June 26, 2017

Number 9 is Sealed and Enroute to Malawi with Love!


Big Big thanks to everyone that helped load #9.  Hard to believe that the bikes just keep on coming.
Special thanks to Van Isle Containers- without their help this wouldn't happen.   Recyclistas and Brentwood Auto & Metal Recycle keep feeding us with bikes too!

Since 2009 we have shipped 4,039 bikes for a total of 61,207 kilos!!