Newsletter for the Rotary Club of Western Endeavour - Issue No.: 1115 Issue Date: 14 Apr, 2024

On Wednesday 26th April Western Endeavour members and guests visited the workshops of DISMANTLE, a social enterprise that uses bike culture and bike mechanics to engage, inspire and mentor young people.

We were first given a tour of the facility by Darren Thomas who then addressed us to explain the operation of the flagship initiative BIKE RESCUE. This programme uses a series of ten half-day sessions during which the participants build two as-new bikes from donated bikes and parts. One of these bikes is used for charity and the other can be kept by the participant. A schools programme is available and students can obtain some credits towards a Certificate II in bicycle maintenance. All of the programmes are run by two mentors, who while dressed as mechanics, don’t present as normal youth counsellors but rather as non-threatening instructing mechanics.

The cost of participating is $1100 per person therefore DISMANTLE either require the relevant organisation or school to fund the courses or rely on donations from businesses and organisations such as Rotary. The Rotary Club of Bay View Claremont  have launched a project called “100 in 100” which plans to provide the Bike Rescue experience to 100 youths in 100 days and from those to deliver a RYLA or RYPEN programme to selected participants.

As an adjunct to Dismantle, a commercial business called BIKE Dr has been established to provide mobile cycle servicing. Information available at bikedr.com.au