In this newsletter...

1. ​Brand New Brandon's​
2. ​Annual Meeting Summary​
3. ​Working Bikes BBQ - Wednesday February 18th 5-7pm​
4. ​New Volunteer Engagement Program​

It is February at the shop and love (and dust) are in the air! The next time you are in it might look a bit different, as we have rearranged our entire first floor! Brandon’s Bike Shop is now in the front of the building, giving our volunteers some much needed sunlight from the windows. Last week we were at the Chicago Winter Bike Swap, tabled by our volunteers Tony and Tony. We got see lots of friendly faces, old and new and got a huge donation of cycling gear from Lon Haldeman and Green Bay Cycles! Check out Lon's work with PAC Tour and his book, now in its 3rd printing here.

We will also be having a 63° day next Wednesday and to celebrate we will be hosting a Barbeque here at our shop for our volunteers and the local bike non-profit community. It will be BYO meats, veg and sides, on top of some grillables from WB, with beverages provided by Revolution Brewing. Come on down and meet your fellow volunteers from Working Bikes and beyond, and help us send off our Community Programs Manager Colette.
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Brand New Brandon's!

Last week we undertook our Big First Floor Shuffle, under the leadership of board member Ed Hanlon! We moved Brandon’s Bike shop to the front of the shop, shifting the retail floor to the back to make room for a new accessible entrance still in the works. The concrete for the ramp and construction of the new entrance will begin in early Spring. We have also opened up an old staircase to the basement that has not been used since 2012! Each bench has its own lighting, thanks to our volunteer, Bob. The new Volunteer Capacity Building Mechanic will have their own workspace and desk, and we are in the process of organizing to make building up bikes easier for our volunteers. It has also become our new meeting space for general and annual meetings.

Next time you’re in let us know what you think!

Last week, we hosted all members for the annual meeting in the new Brandon’s Bike Shop space! We meet as an organization every other month on the first Wednesday of the month to hear from local and international partners, community members, and hear from staff about operational updates. The Annual Meeting is similar, but it is also the dedicated space where board elections are held. General Membership was presented with a board-approved slate, put together first by our Nominating Committee, and it was officially passed (thanks to everyone who showed up and participated!) Our board composition is as follows:

For the first time since our founding, our co-founder Lee Ravenscroft will be stepping down from the board. As an emeritus board member he will be invited to all board meetings as a non-voting member. In his place, we are proud to welcome Frank Smith to our board, who has already been an invaluable member of our finance committee. The minutes of the meeting are posted on our website here.
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The weather is warming up a bit this week, and after this cold winter we have to take advantage! On Wednesday February 18th 5-7pm we will be having a BBQ for our volunteers and other members of the non-profit bike shop community. It is a great opportunity to connect with other organizations like ours and fellow volunteers, and to celebrate our Community Programs Manager Colette’s last week with a proper send off! It is a BYO BBQ, so grab some sausages, burgers and sides on your way down to throw on the grill along side whatever we find on sale at Costco! We will have some drinks from Revolution Brewing and some snacks available.

There are many changes happening in our volunteer program, including our volunteer software! We have been using custom Salesforce software for many years, and it is time for a user friendly upgrade. Point is a volunteer management program that will help us track volunteer hours, maintain a more accurate volunteer opportunity calendar, and has its own app so you can get notification for upcoming events. We are hoping it will be easier for volunteers to log in and track hours. We will also be transferring all your hours to this program, so do not worry about losing those! We are still in the testing phase of implementing this program, and would love your input. You can sign up as a volunteer on Point here, and explore the website/app. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to reach out to finn@workingbikes.org.
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