Last Week's Mobile Fix-it Stop at Monarch Landing

Last Wednesday, our Mobile Fix-it program made it’s first ever stop at Monarch Landing. Monarch Landing is a temporary housing facility for new arrivals to Boise’s refugee community. I had been looking forward to this stop for months, ever since I set it up with my contact Wais at the International Rescue Committee (IRC). It did not disappoint.

That morning, we packed the trailer with extra tubes, tools, wheel sets and anything else we could think of and rode over to Monarch Landing to set up for the day’s outreach event. When we arrived we were greeted by Jake, our volunteer who has been supplying mass quantities of frozen treats for kiddos at our stops around town. This seemed like a good sign for the stop. As the rest of our crew of BBP volunteers popped up bike stands and laid out tools, the kids began to filter back in from school programming.

With the help of interpreters I began signing up families in need of transportation for bicycles, and soon the stop was awash with the sounds of people speaking in Pashto, Swahili, Arabic, English and Spanish. Not to mention the laughter of kids as they crushed ice cream sandwiches, played in the mister fans, and brought out their broken bicycles.

While the sign up process drew attention to the fact that we were speaking different languages, the way that the kids and volunteers worked together on the bicycles spanned the communication barrier altogether. Volunteers were helping kids patch flats, change tires, rerun brake cables and tune shifting, all while making sure that tools were in kid’s hands. With a mixture of pantomimes, giggles and hand signals, young people were learning how to fix their bicycles, and soon they were circling the area on the bike that they fixed themselves.

I am consistently blown away by the exchange that happens during these stops - and Monarch Landing was no exception. It was so impactful to me that kids who had been in Boise for 3 weeks and people who have lived here for 30 years had the chance to share space , to connect and interact with one another while working on a bicycle. It’s amazing to see that our community is willing to reach out and welcome those who have recently arrived here, and inspiring to see that a bicycle can help bridge the gap between two homes.

We are looking forward to our next stop at Monarch Landing and all the rad stops we have scheduled this summer! Check out our volunteer page if you’d like to join us and keep Boise rolling!