A gathering place for teens in a bicycle recycling workshop
The project was launched at the end of the 2008 school year in an event to which Nahalal Youth Village boarding school students, Nigun Halev congregation members and many donated bicycles in a state of neglect and disrepair were invited.
Kol Galgal*
*Sound of Wheels
The project, originally designed as a one-time happening, was actually a litmus test for collaboration between adults and teens in recycling bicycles, making them usable and donating them to children and teens in disadvantaged communities. The Passing Bicycles from Hand to Hand event [as we named it] was a great success!! The lawn was covered with children, teens and adults with wrenches, air valves and metallic spray-paint. One by one, the bicycles passed under the scrutiny of Rafi of
Ventil Co. and our own expert, Nir, who classified them for restoration, spare parts, or garbage!
All the bikes repaired at that event were cleaned, painted, polished, and then transported to the Parent-Children Center in Afula. The center outdid itself by obtaining the permission of the Egged Public Bus Co. to allow the children and teens who received bicycles in Afula to take them home by bus to Givat Hamoreh and Afula Illit where they live.
That happening was the start of a merry group of enthusiastic volunteers that included Dorit Lavie and Margalit Shachar from Nahalal, Nir Yassur from Shimshit, Zohar Forman from Ginnegar, Eliyahu Shachaf from Kefar Masarik, Gal Kerduf from Tivon and Idit Segev from Alon Hagalil.
Following the event, Eliyahu Shachaf wrote down these thoughts and impressions:
The Passing Bicycles from Hand to Hand program that took place on Tuesday 17.6.2008 went beyond our wildest expectations! The lawn facing the old school in Nahalal kept filling up with bicycles removed from storage: children's, teens', adults' old bikes. But more than the bicycles, the lawn was filled with new voices, new blends of teens working with adults, boarding school children with local community children, community people with instructors from the boarding school, and other volunteers from the area. They all toiled and repaired until they had put together 28 bicycles painted gold and silver to be shipped to their new destination.
If you haven't seen Simona turning screws and loosening stuck wheels then you have never seen a
real act of Tikkun Olam [setting the world right].
If you have never seen bright eyed boys and girls spray-painting bicycles and themselves, you have never witnessed sparks of light and creativity.
Music playing, a table laden with cakes, fruit and beverages and a supper of pita bread, hummus, labaneh cheese and vegetables.
Toolboxes with wrenches and screwdrivers, spare parts with light reflectors and bells.
Rafi from Ventil instructing and assisting,
Nir from Shimshit working quietly and diligently, Mayor Eyal Betzer coming and joining the group for photo ops, men and women
from Nigun Halev working and talking with one another.
Name-stickers on shirts, an opening ceremony and a closing ceremony with a special prayer written
by
Bini Talmi. The boarding school children ask:
Are you all praying?
Idit was the maestro conducting the whole commotion. Idit is almost the only person who believed in the project and swept us into it with her. We have taken another step in forging ties with the WIZO Nahalal boarding school children and look forward to taking more steps in the future on the road "from Beit Alpha to Nahalal".
Fortified by the successful event, we applied to the youth village principal Mr. David Horesh and received, besides his blessing, permission to use and repair a one hundred year-old building in bad state of disrepair that would turn the following 2008-2009 school year into Kol Galgal , a gathering place for teens in a bicycle recycling workshop !
At every stage in the life of social entrepreneurship, a person appears who plays a key role in survival, in keeping the project afloat. At the stage we were at, it was Gal Kerduf who was summoned to examine the "property asset" from his professional perspective, and in response to our question "what do we do with this monstrosity?" he responded in an assured, authoritative voice with one word only: "Possible!!!"
So we began together, adults and teens, to repair our workshop and gathering place, cleaning, disinfecting, smoothing, filling, peeling, whitewashing and cleaning over again...
For an entire year we met every week or two to work on renovating the building. Towards the end of the year we had a bicycle repair center that looked like a palace to us!
However, even a palace needs a roof that doesn't leak and our roof had more holes than a sieve... So, we recruited a volunteer roofer named David from Timrat and several other strong guys and had a roofing party one Friday morning.
The volunteers include Nir Yassur from Shimshit, an avid cyclist, Gal Kertes from Tivon, a self-employed contractor, expert renovator and creative writer, Danny Gilan from Alon Hagalil, executive at Hazera Co., cyclist and expert ice-cream maker, Michal Ben Ovadia from Beit Keshet, Anthroposophic kindergarten teacher, Shay Zarchi from Ginnegar, one of the initiators and leaders of Midrasha BeOranim and Nigun Halev Congregation, Sonia Zarchi from Ginnegar, parenting counselor, Chen Tzfoni from Nahalal, female rabbi and prayer leader at Nigun Halev Congregation, and a real pro when it comes to creating rapport with teenagers, Drorit Einav from Gevat and Idit Segev from Alon Hagalil.
*Sound of Wheels
The project, originally designed as a one-time happening, was actually a litmus test for collaboration between adults and teens in recycling bicycles, making them usable and donating them to children and teens in disadvantaged communities. The Passing Bicycles from Hand to Hand event [as we named it] was a great success!! The lawn was covered with children, teens and adults with wrenches, air valves and metallic spray-paint. One by one, the bicycles passed under the scrutiny of Rafi of
Ventil Co. and our own expert, Nir, who classified them for restoration, spare parts, or garbage!
All the bikes repaired at that event were cleaned, painted, polished, and then transported to the Parent-Children Center in Afula. The center outdid itself by obtaining the permission of the Egged Public Bus Co. to allow the children and teens who received bicycles in Afula to take them home by bus to Givat Hamoreh and Afula Illit where they live.
That happening was the start of a merry group of enthusiastic volunteers that included Dorit Lavie and Margalit Shachar from Nahalal, Nir Yassur from Shimshit, Zohar Forman from Ginnegar, Eliyahu Shachaf from Kefar Masarik, Gal Kerduf from Tivon and Idit Segev from Alon Hagalil.
Following the event, Eliyahu Shachaf wrote down these thoughts and impressions:
The Passing Bicycles from Hand to Hand program that took place on Tuesday 17.6.2008 went beyond our wildest expectations! The lawn facing the old school in Nahalal kept filling up with bicycles removed from storage: children's, teens', adults' old bikes. But more than the bicycles, the lawn was filled with new voices, new blends of teens working with adults, boarding school children with local community children, community people with instructors from the boarding school, and other volunteers from the area. They all toiled and repaired until they had put together 28 bicycles painted gold and silver to be shipped to their new destination. If you haven't seen Simona turning screws and loosening stuck wheels then you have never seen a
real act of Tikkun Olam [setting the world right].
If you have never seen bright eyed boys and girls spray-painting bicycles and themselves, you have never witnessed sparks of light and creativity. Music playing, a table laden with cakes, fruit and beverages and a supper of pita bread, hummus, labaneh cheese and vegetables.
Toolboxes with wrenches and screwdrivers, spare parts with light reflectors and bells.
Rafi from Ventil instructing and assisting,
Nir from Shimshit working quietly and diligently, Mayor Eyal Betzer coming and joining the group for photo ops, men and women
from Nigun Halev working and talking with one another.
Name-stickers on shirts, an opening ceremony and a closing ceremony with a special prayer written
by
Bini Talmi. The boarding school children ask: Are you all praying?
Idit was the maestro conducting the whole commotion. Idit is almost the only person who believed in the project and swept us into it with her. We have taken another step in forging ties with the WIZO Nahalal boarding school children and look forward to taking more steps in the future on the road "from Beit Alpha to Nahalal".
Fortified by the successful event, we applied to the youth village principal Mr. David Horesh and received, besides his blessing, permission to use and repair a one hundred year-old building in bad state of disrepair that would turn the following 2008-2009 school year into Kol Galgal , a gathering place for teens in a bicycle recycling workshop !
At every stage in the life of social entrepreneurship, a person appears who plays a key role in survival, in keeping the project afloat. At the stage we were at, it was Gal Kerduf who was summoned to examine the "property asset" from his professional perspective, and in response to our question "what do we do with this monstrosity?" he responded in an assured, authoritative voice with one word only: "Possible!!!"
So we began together, adults and teens, to repair our workshop and gathering place, cleaning, disinfecting, smoothing, filling, peeling, whitewashing and cleaning over again...
For an entire year we met every week or two to work on renovating the building. Towards the end of the year we had a bicycle repair center that looked like a palace to us!
However, even a palace needs a roof that doesn't leak and our roof had more holes than a sieve... So, we recruited a volunteer roofer named David from Timrat and several other strong guys and had a roofing party one Friday morning. The volunteers include Nir Yassur from Shimshit, an avid cyclist, Gal Kertes from Tivon, a self-employed contractor, expert renovator and creative writer, Danny Gilan from Alon Hagalil, executive at Hazera Co., cyclist and expert ice-cream maker, Michal Ben Ovadia from Beit Keshet, Anthroposophic kindergarten teacher, Shay Zarchi from Ginnegar, one of the initiators and leaders of Midrasha BeOranim and Nigun Halev Congregation, Sonia Zarchi from Ginnegar, parenting counselor, Chen Tzfoni from Nahalal, female rabbi and prayer leader at Nigun Halev Congregation, and a real pro when it comes to creating rapport with teenagers, Drorit Einav from Gevat and Idit Segev from Alon Hagalil.