It has been my good fortune to be able to participate, as a volunteer for Bicycles for Humanity.  Thunder Bay is equally fortunate to have the B4H group in the city, collecting unwanted bicycles, from a variety of sources, and then redistributing the bicycles to people in need of basic transportation.

Each volunteer in the Thunder Bay chapter of Bicycles for Humanity(B4H) can earn a bicycle by volunteering his, or her, time to the organizations goals and vision.  And that is how this old Bianchi first came to my attention.

One of my many duties as Bicycle Salvage Champion, is to maintain bicycle drop-off locations, of which there are presently three - my backyard, Habitat for Humanity and the Thunder Bay Landfill Site.  I must check each site, keeping THEM neat, tidy and free of bicycle build up.  I must do so every week of the year, increasing frequency during the Spring and Autumn months.  The task is time consuming but incredibly interesting and certainly entertaining.

Checking on the status of my back yard is a non-issue and incredibly fun to do when you see someone marching a drop dead gorgeous Sekine MR300, across your lawn, only to deposit it beside the apple tree, along with what might be two or three dozen other donated bicycles.  During heavy bicycle flow seasons, Spring and Autumn, I must empty my back yard once, twice and even three times a week, to keep the clutter from becoming a neighbourhood problem.

Then there is the Dump.  Oh, how I love going to the Dump.  In the Spring, I actually pack a lunch and station myself at the Dump for eight days, twelve hours a day, in a row.  Why?  Because it is Free Dumping Week in Thunder Bay and hundreds of bicycles are discarded during that week alone, each year.  It is not unusual to find, and salvage over a hundred old bicycles in a single week.

I should add that I do the bicycle salvage thing at the Landfill Site with management's permission.  I follow safety rules, do as the attendants say and keep the flow of bicycles into the Bicycles for Humanity inventory flowing.

Maintaining the Habitat for Humanity site is pretty easy to do.  I need only check on the donation status when out and about running errands.  I have agreed, once again, to keep the area neat and free of bicycle build up. Again, this means that I must check the site, and act accordingly, at least once a week.

And this old Asian Bianchi was one of those that surfaced, at Habitat for Humanity, and only one day after I had just emptied that drop-off location out.  Ya just never know when the next neat old bicycle will reveal itself.

NEXT - BUILDING THE BIANCHI SS