Featured Volunteer: Nirav Surabhi

Wow. Just wow. Go ahead and prove me wrong Nirav. This is Nirav flanked by his very capable crew of volunteers he also calls friends...or actually more likely bro. Nirav approached Bikes for the World over a year ago in hopes of setting up a bike collection. At the time he was a high school sophomore and he was heading into a busy summer. 

Summer collections can be tough. It's hot. Folks are away on vacation. And Nirav was a student. Just a member of the community wanting to make a difference. He wasn't backed by a school group, a faith community, or even a scout troop. We typically say that can be hard to advertise without a network behind you. But truthfully, Nirav ran this just like any other Eagle project would be run...in fact at the warehouse we kept calling it an Eagle project because it felt like one. It wasn't, it was Nirav following his passion. 

When Nirav first reached out to us he told us he was a cyclist who competed in several mountain bike races. He had a passion for cycling and he wanted to extend that to the community...to help them repurpose old bikes and help others find the same passion through riding. It took a little juggling of schedules, but we finally got his event on the calendar for this June, this past Sunday to be exact.

Sunday was the first time we met Nirav in person. We emailed a lot, but he never came to the warehouse, never practiced how we compact bikes...we actually never discussed it at all. He took what he knew about bikes, reviewed our online material and started compacting bikes he collected in advance. 

He responded when we asked if he could help a donor who couldn't transport his bikes. He stored bikes in advance of his collection at his house and had friends come by to compact them so they could transport them to the event on Sunday. He designed an amazing flyer along with a QR code so folks without a bike could support his collection financially. And they did. 

Then on Sunday. It rained. And rained. And rained. But the bikes kept coming in all day long. He ended up with 100 bikes and met our goal of $20 a bike as well! Donors regained space in their garages and felt good about knowing their bikes would be heading to Burkina Faso the same week. They also went home with a small sticker designed by Nirav that boasted of- I Donated to Bikes for the World. 

The only thing wrong with Nirav is he lives in Virginia. Not that there's anything wrong with that in general! But we wish he was a lot closer so we could get him working in our shop on a regular basis. BUT if you need any advice on how to host the perfect collection, we'd be happy to put you in touch with Nirav.