Poly Club Collects Bikes for the World

Joshua Spokes, 17, said he’s concerned about the environmental health of the planet, and so he helped organize an event on Saturday that is good for the environment and helps people in need. 

Spokes, a junior at , came up with the idea to host a bike collection event at the school to benefit the organization Bikes for the World.  

“We only have one planet. We can’t spoil it,” Spokes said.

Spokes first broached the idea with the school’s Environmental Club, of which he is a member, in February. Since then, Spokes and the club’s advisor Robert Armenti have worked to go get the word out about the event by contacting bike shops and posting the event on the Bmore Streets for People website.

“We all agreed that it was a great idea,” Armenti said.

On Saturday Spokes and other club members helped to unload bikes from cars and also began stripping off some of the bikes' parts.

Spokes said that he had a goal in mind of collecting 50 bikes, and the group had collected at least 40 by late Saturday morning.

Nick Colombo, operations manager for the Bikes for the World, said the organization collects about 10,000 bikes a year that are shipped to developing countries where bikes are the primary mode of transportation. The bikes are shipped with all the parts necessary to get the bikes back in good working order.

He said Bikes for the World, which is based in Washington D.C., does about 120 events a year where they collect bikes. He said most events have been held in suburban areas between Baltimore and Washington D.C.

“We’re trying to do more [events] in Baltimore,” Colombo said.   

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