Programs
Spoke Folks is involved in a number of projects throughout the year. Below is a description of some of our programs.

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Lots to Gardens..
Spoke Folks is in charge of the fleet of 18 bicycles used by the Lots to Gardens youth work crews and staff each summer. We spend the end of the spring taking these bikes out of storage, evaluating them, and repairing any problems we find. The best of the bikes are kept, and some of our less favorite ones are replaced by bikes we have built during the winter, and the replaced bikes are stripped of their parts and put into storage. The youth crew is fitted for bikes and helmets and we help lead safety rides to teach the importance of hand-signals and other rules of the road. We hold regular shop hours for LTG staff and youth to maintain and repair their bikes.

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Public Workshops
In the Summer, we will schedule visits to places such as Hillview and River Valley Village, where people are welcome to bring us their bikes for free repair. We encourage those in need of bike repair to do the repairs with us so that they learn about how to fix the bike for themselves in the future.

Bike Donations to Non-Profit Organizations
Spokefolks also donates and repairs bikes for organizations like New Beginnings Transitional Living Program for homeless youth and Trinity Jubilee Center. We work with youth in the program to show how the bikes are repaired and how they should be maintained.

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Community Service and Mechanic Training
For people who have to fulfill community service hours or are simply interested in learning bike mechanic skills through hands on experience, we invite members of the community to schedule a time to come into the shop and help us fix up bicycles. There's no better way to learn these skills then to try to repair old bikes. You don't need to have any prior mechanical skills to help out, just a willingness to learn and lots of patience.

Support for our Friends
Spoke Folks also lends its volunteer support to other important community organizations. We have helped clean trails with the Androscoggin Land Trust, fix bikes for Biloxi with the Biddeford Community Bicycle Center, Race Marshall for LA Trails’ Family Fit Fest, teach repair skills at at Bates College DIY day, and plan technical support for the Dempsey Challenge Benefit Ride for Cancer.