A made-in-Kelowna program to collect bicycles and ship them to Africa has inspired dozens of similar initiatives around the world.
People from Sydney to Norway, Vancouver to London have created their own Bicycles for Humanity projects, and the ventures have been just as successful as the one that captured the public's imagination in the Central Okanagan last spring.
Tens of thousands of bikes that would otherwise have gone to landfills or been left to gather dust in garages have been sent to Africa, where they've been used by aid workers and school children.
"What a wonderful idea it is, to send bikes that we don't need anymore to people who could really use them," says Rev. Maureen MacLeod of St. Bartholomew's United Church, who organized a Bicycles for Humanity project in Brampton, Ont.
In Thunder Bay, bike shops, service clubs, churches, businesses and individuals have also come together to collect hundreds of bikes to send to Africa.
"People want to make a difference in the world, and they see this as a way they can do that," said Dr. Steve Klassen, who's heading up bike drive in that city.
Both MacLeod and Klassen are among the dozens of people around the world who've been in touch in the past year with Pat Montani, the Kelowna man who helped to set up Bicycles for Humanity.
"It's amazing how this project has taken off," Montani says. "I'd say there's close to 100 different groups doing something like this now. And it's something that was basically home-grown in Kelowna."
This time last year, about 1,300 bikes were provided by Central Okanagan residents for shipment to Africa. People just seemed to understand how much of a difference a bike could make to the lives of the poorest people on the world's poorest continent.
Kids can get to school more easily and quickly. Local health care workers treating people with AIDS can get to more patients during a day. Villagers can travel to jobs in nearby towns more reliably.
Bike collection programs have existed for decades, but what makes Bicycles for Humanity different is that it's an all-volunteer effort, with no paid staff. No one makes any money off it, except the shipping companies that charge about $8,000 to send each container of bikes to Africa.
Montani, 57, has owned a number of high-tech companies, and has homes in Kelowna and Whistler. He is, by any material measure, a successful businessman, but he wasn't all that happy as a person before coming up with the idea for Bicycles for Humanity.
"I'd made a lot of money, but I sort of realized one day that I hadn't done anything significant in my life to really help other people, nothing that wasn't for a profit, anyway," he says.
He heard about projects to send bicycles to poor people in under-developed countries, and became intrigued. By early 2006, along with some fellow Rotarians, he was making plans for the collection effort in Kelowna.
It was a resounding success, and not only bikes were rounded up. Soccer uniforms, school supplies, even old hospital beds were brought down, and added to the three container loads that were eventually shipped out of Kelowna destined for Africa.
News of the project got around, through development agency websites, bicycle club newsletters, charitable organizations, and word-of-mouth. It was Lake Country writer Jim Taylor, for example, who told Brampton's Rev. MacLeod, a friend of his, about Bicycles for Humanity.
Soon, Montani was being contacted by scores of people looking for advice on how to do similar projects in their communities. He estimates he spends about 20 hours a week offering information and encouragement.
But his support takes a more tangible form as well. He's given about $20,000 to help out with shipping costs to ensure the bikes get to where they're needed.
"Bicycles for Humanity is a vehicle for bringing people together, and it's sort of set me on a new path in my own life," Montani says. "If it costs a few of my dollars to keep it going, well, I can afford it, and I think it's money well spent."
Ron Seymour is a Daily Courier reporter whose column appears Wednesday and Friday. Tel: 470.0750 Email: ron.seymour@ok.bc.ca
