Bike Donation for Africa
Sunday, September 1st, 2019, 10:30 AM – 5:30 PM
Monday, September 2nd, 2019, 10:30 AM – 5:30 PM
Description:
Send your bike to Africa! Any bike in any condition accepted. Just drop your bike as you leave Burning Man. Car parking available. Then follow your bike's progress all year at StarsAndBikes.com.
There are tens of thousands of bicycles in Black Rock City and a surprising number of these are purchased just days ahead of the event and disposed of immediately following the Burn. Many are simply abandoned on the Playa.
Abandoned bikes are collected, sorted, processed for lost and found, held for a reasonable period, transported off of the Playa, and finally donated or scrapped in Reno. This is a tremendous headache and cost.
Almost all of these bikes still have a potentially useful life ahead of them. Bikes that are donated directly to the Stars And Bikes bike drop (scavenging abandoned bikes from the open Playa is not allowed) can go straight to people that need them.
Our bike drop puts these bikes back into circulation for YEARS to come.
In West Africa the cost of a car is out of reach for most people. Public transit is often a hodgepodge of private vehicles that operate on their own schedule. In many areas, most people walk. Where infrastructure is still developing, bicycles dramatically increase the ability to gain access to a far-flung job or the market where groceries can be purchased affordably.
Starting Saturday (Burn day) you can leave your bicycles at our camp. Most of the donated bikes (about 2/3) are loaded into shipping containers, towed to port, and sent straight to Africa. Some bikes should never have been brought to Burning Man in the first place. These are scrapped. The rest are refurbished and returned to Burning Man next year as rentals. This pays for the camp.
The Stars And Bikes BIKE DROP is stationed on the last ring road of Black Rock City (Labyrinth in 2019). When you leave Burning Man, drive out to the edge of the city and follow that street until you get to 5:30.
Join us!