February 2026

In this newsletter...

1. ​Check out the Annual Report​
2. ​Bikes en route to Sierra Leone​
3. ​Finkl Donation​
4. ​Collection Events cometh​
5. Spring Reuseapalooza at The Plant - 3/15/25 11-3
6. ​Did you read the Annual Report?​
7. ​Give us some feedback on our Strategic Plan progress!​

We're two months into 2026, past the extreme cold stretch, and have had some time to reflect on all that we accomplished in 2025. We're excited to present our 2025 Annual Report and hope that it exudes enough warmth and excitement about the power of two wheeled transportation to get us all through to the fair riding season. Inside the Report, you'll find out more about our operations last year, including everything from our ED’s trip to visit partners in East Africa to our Chicago Sukkah Design Festival Entry right at home in North Lawndale. You can find the entire report on our website here.

We're keeping it moving in 2026, with our first container of the year on the high seas now headed to the Village Bicycle Project in Sierra Leone and expected to arrive just in time for the Lunsar Cycling Festival. At home, we've sent off our first big donation about a block over, and 40 students at Finkl elementary will be ready to roll when the spring has sprung. That was the final donation for Community Programs Manager Colette, who will be rolling on from WB. We're excited to have Luna rolling in, and eager to have her develop our new location for Brandon's Bike Shop and engage volunteers with our new software.
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But to do all that we do, internationally and locally, we've got to have the bikes!!! Our Annual Report shows how we put it all together last year; how the bikes come in to the warehouse and all the places we got them rolling again outside the shop. And we're gearing up for another busy collection season now, as bike collection events are filling up our calendar. We will be updating our google calendar with all our upcoming events, such as Spring Reusapalooza at The Plant on March 15, 11am-3pm, so keep an eye out!

The 2025 Annual Report!!!

We are so excited to present our 2025 Annual Report, which was put together by Finn, our extremely talented Manager of Engagement, and written by members of our staff, board, and volunteer ranks. While the Report highlights our numbers and measurable impact -- the second highest number of bikes sent abroad in the history of Working Bikes! over 3,000 refurbished used bikes back on the streets locally! our most successful anniversary party ever! -- we also want to use the document to share the experiences and connections we have with our community, the links that make Working Bikes the cycling hub that it is.

In 2025 we were able to strengthen our connections with our community outside of Chicago. We packed up shipping containers of bikes in Portland, St. Louis and Madison, attended Bici!Bici! In Mexico, met up at Foro Mundial in Montreal, and our ED spent a month in East Africa connecting with our international partners. In the shop, our volunteers continued to wrench on bikes for the Cycle of Power (adults) and Cycle of Peace (kiddos) programs, helping us donate 1661 bikes locally! We are so incredibly grateful to our community of volunteers, staff, board members, donation drop off partners, community members, and supporters of all stripes who have made 26 years of Working Bikes possible. Here’s to another year of redistributing bikes as tools of self determination locally and abroad!

Bikes for our neighbors at Finkl!

Working Bikes international, and only, headquarters is on the 2400 block of South Western, just inside the boundary of Little Village and across the street from Pilsen. We love our home and our neighbors and are thrilled when we can bring our resources to bear to benefit our extremely local community. We were fortunate to have that opportunity last week when we gave 40 volunteer-refurbished children's bikes to our friends and neighbors over at Finkl Elementary school, just up the road on the 2300 Block.

Nearly all the students at Finkl qualify for free school lunches, and we've heard from school leadership and teachers that bikes are always in demand by the kids. Principal Quintana and her team like to use the rides as incentives to encourage attendance, and we're happy to see bikes with our repair stickers rolling around the neighborhood. We've worked with Finkl in the past on donations, set up a bike rack for the cycling commuting teachers, and always look for an opportunity to support the kids there.

This donation was a particularly poignant one, as it was the last bunch of bikes built up under the welcoming and supportive watch of Colette, our Community Programs Manager for the last four years! Colette is moving on from her staff role at Working Bikes, but won't be a stranger to the community. She's looking forward to coming back as a volunteer wrench. In her stead, Brandon's Bike Shop will now be home to Luna, our brand new Volunteer Capacity Building Mechanic. Luna's role is more hands-on and teaching focused than previous staff in Brandon's Bike Shop, with our new Manager of Engagement and our Community Bike Repairs Manager taking on some of Colette's admin duties. We can't say enough nice things about Colette and wish her well going forward, and we're super excited to have Luna on board to take the wrenching lead on the next big bike donation!

Collection Events are coming...

Our busy season approaches! We have a lot of recycling collection events scheduled all over Chicagoland this spring, leading up to and beyond Earth Day April 22. All of these events give community members the opportunity to sustainably donate/dispose of various household items, including bikes! If you have bikes or accessories lying around your garage or basement collecting dust, let us help you get some space back and find a new home for those items, either locally or abroad. We will have staff and/or volunteers available at these events to assist in the donation process, answer any questions, or help provide a donation receipt. Looking for a recycling event close to you? Check out our google calendar, which will be updated with our upcoming events. We can’t wait to see everyone that stops by during these wonderful events!

Here are our next 5 collections events,
with many more on our google calendar!

March 15, 2026 11:00am - 3:00pm : Spring Reusapalooza @ The Plant

April 4, 2026 10:00am - 2:00pm : SCARCE
Darien Recycling Extravaganza @ St John's Lutheran Church

April 11, 2026 9:00am - 12:00pm : FPCC Trash Bash Miller Meadow
@ Miller Meadows

April 11, 2026 9:00am - 1:00pm Glen Ellyn Spring Recycling Extravaganza College of Dupage Parking Lot 6 - Glen Ellyn

April 11, 2026 8:30am - 11:30am SCARCE Wheaton Recycling Extravaganza Fairgrounds- 2015 Manchester Road. Wheaton, IL

Strategic Plan Survey

In March, 2023 Working Bikes adopted our first-ever Strategic Plan, with the commitment to evaluate and review it on a regular basis. As we near its third "birthday," we want to reach out to staff, volunteers, and community members to collect your experiences and impressions. If you can spare the time, please share your perspective via this survey.