Life Cycles gives lift to first local recipient

Saturday, August 29, 2020
As Chris Mitchell (kneeling) takes possession of the first bicycle given away by Life Cycles of Putnam County, a number of the volunteers who make the program possible gather. Those present Saturday at the Greencastle Farmers Market include (from left) Phil and Susan Gick, Joyce Johnson, Terry Bruner, Misty Scott, Chris Mitchell, Mindy Duckett, Abbigail Sampson, Jenna Nees, Antonia Sawyer, Ruth Myers and Kevin Verhoff.
Banner Graphic/JARED JERNAGAN

When Chris Mitchell became the first recipient in the history of Life Cycles of Putnam County Saturday morning, it was more than simply getting a bicycle for the Greencastle man.

Rather, Mitchell learned a bit about his new set of wheels, thanked those who had made it possible and hopped on the bike and rode away from the Greencastle Farmers Market, headed for work.

Until that point, lacking any other form of transportation, Mitchell had been walking to his job.

“People don’t necessarily think about bicycles as modes of transportation, they think of them as recreation,” Antonia Sawyer explained. “But when you have someone who doesn’t drive, it becomes an important mode of transportation.”

Sawyer, the local systems coordinator for Miami County Systems of Care, founded Life Cycles in her county more than three years ago. She was in town Saturday to see the program take root in a fourth county, as Putnam joined Miami, Huntington and Tipton counties in starting a program.

The mission of Life Cycles is to provide a solution to transportation barriers by repairing and distributing donated or unclaimed bikes to residents in need, free of charge, to assist in being able to attend appointments and school, run errands and hold steady employment.

The program provides a refurbished bike, new helmet and lock to anyone at least 16 years old who is referred by a community member who isn’t family or a close friend.

For Mitchell, the need was certainly there.

“Basically, this bike will be transportation to work and back,” he said. “Also, going to the store can take an hour and a half walking. It’s going to really help with that.

“It’s a good thing these people are doing,” Mitchell said. “I hope they can help a lot more people and it looks like they will.”

One key to make sure Mitchell is not alone in receiving the transportation he needs is ensuring that there is buy-in from multiple community organizations and agencies.

“It’s not sustainable off of one person being the linchpin,” Sawyer said “Everybody is involved.”

With that in mind, Life Cycles is a collaboration between Phil the Need, United Way of Putnam County and the Putnam County Wellness Coalition, with leadership from Purdue Extension. Recipients are also given a People Pathways map so they are aware of good trails for riding in the community.

Beyond this, the coalition is relying on donations of repairable bikes from community members.

Life Cycles was already off to a good start, with 10 refurbished bikes donated by Area 30 Career Center. Then on Saturday, community members had donated at least four more bicycles as of 10 a.m.

With several bikes donated to Life Cycles of Putnam County Saturday morning, volunteers Phil Gick (left) and Keven Verhoff take stock of a couple of the donations. Those interested in donating a used bike to Life Cycles may contact Ruth Myers at 720-1739.
Banner Graphic/JARED JERNAGAN

And while the used bikes don’t arrive in perfect shape, Kevin Verhoff and Chris Flegal, with help from Garl’s Bike Shop, will be doing the repairs and refurbishment of bicycles.

“We have brought lots of people together,” Ruth Myers of Phil the Need said.

Those interested in donating a bicycle -- even one that would be good for parts -- may do so by contacting Myers at 720-1739.

The program made its way from Northern Indiana to Putnam County because Mindy Duckett, Purdue Extension community wellness coordinator for Putnam, Parke and Hendricks counties, serves on a statewide health coalition with Sawyer and heard about the program.

Sawyer presented information to local stakeholders and it took off from there.

“She has made it very easy to replicate and very customizable to other communities,” Duckett said. “We took it, started calling the right people together and made it happen. When you can take a program like this and customize it in communities, it can work in every one of them.”

Duckett said she believes the program can work in all three counties she serves, as different as those three communities are.

In Miami County, the success has been undeniable. From the February 2017 founding of the program through the end of 2019, 148 bicycles had been given to Miami County residents.

While such numbers are a long way off in Putnam County, it’s about taking it one case at a time.

“It’s not going to solve the problem for everyone, but it is going to solve the problem for Chris,” Duckett said.

And as the program grows, Duckett hopes residents will take more notice of the lack of infrastructure for walkers and cyclists.

“I hope this is the start of a conversation about how we take our road system and make it safer for pedestrians and bicyclists,” Duckett said.

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