|
AUSTRALIAN GOODWILL BICYCLES ABROAD ABN 55096390353 21 Dardanelles St Mortdale New South Wales 2223 Australia Ph: (612) 9585 1152 www.goodwillbicycles.com
ANNUAL REPORT 2006
It has been a busy year for us, due to an article that was published in the local news paper,on 19/1/2006. (The Sutherland and St George Leader)
This focused on our achievements in East Timor in the past, and our disire to recommence a similar mission, based in Sydney, with central African countries as the areas we wished to direct the bikes to. Bicycles ready for shipment
The article brought a huge response,with around 300 bikes being donated in the first few months. Both Sutherland and Redfern Police stations rang up, asking us to pick up bikes that were lost property. Previously, the bikes were donated to various charities, but due to new O.H.S. laws, this was no longer possible. Many of the public delivered bikes to the door, many we picked up from peoples homes. Even today, we still have people responding to the article, 12 months later. With so many bikes, we decided to upgrade our vehicle to a van, that served the purpose better. One thing we noticed was most people indicated that there were very few alternatives to disposing of bikes that had been outgrown or upgraded. The only option seemed to be, throw them out in the council clean up, what a waste.
So they were happy the bikes were destined for a useful cause, helping others in less fortunate situations.
On 24/1/06 we became officially registered as an unincorporated organisation, being one of the many steps required to become an official Overseas Aid Gift Deduction Scheme Recipient. This is required so possible donors or sponsors, who may wish to assist the mission, can make their donations tax deductible, a good incentive. Bikes are delivered from schools
Since bikes came quick and fast, a larger storage area was required. A meeting with the local Mayor of Hurstville (Vince Badalatti) plus some other council members, was held in late January, which resulted in a large complex to be made available. Unfortunately, after some opposition from an unknown source, the arrangements fell through. Some local people who were assisting the mission organised alternative storage, which eased the situation greatly.
Various groups, and individuals helped in many ways becoming coordinators in their local areas, acting as drop off centres for bikes and assisting in logistical support.
Contact was also made with Mary McKillop House, being an organisation run by St Vincent de Paul. One of their many projects is making wheel chairs out of old bikes. Any bike parts that were not used were given to us.
In March we made contact with the Lions Club at Lugarno, who offered an area for Storage. Also information on their networks in various parts of Africa. “Hope for Rwanda” also made contact with us, with various ideas. On the 6th of March the first business meeting was held, attended by some associates.
Another load of bikes delivered
The African High Commision was contacted, as we were looking for advice on the situations in various parts of Africa.
On 20/3/06 our business account was opened with our first donation of $250.
Kogarah City Council was contacted, regarding a plan to give all bikes to us, that were normally turned into scrap metal.
On 28/3/06 our web site was started, with help from various people.
April was also a busy time, with bikes being donated by Heathcoate Public School . All up around 70 were donated by the primary school children.
Our East Timor photo exibition was displayed for the first time at the Hazelhurst Art Gallery, with overwhelming success.
May was a busy month with many bikes being donated, and a lot of contacts being made.
In June we were invited as guest speakers at the local Rotary Club meeting in Hurstville.
July, we contacted David Koch, (Sunrise 7) and discussed our mission. The police donated more Container almost full bikes.
August. We displayed the photo exhibition at the St. George Regional Museum, Hurstville. The opening speech being delivered by the Mayor Vince Badalatti of Hurstville.
Once again, we received valuable contacts and support from the many people who visited.
In September, the Wesley Mission contacted us, asking for bikes for less fortunate families they were helping, We donated 50 bikes.
In October, we set up a workshop at the Mathew Talbot Hostel, (inner city). This work shop enabled homeless men to repair bicycles which they then kept, assisting in transport to the hostel, and opening up employment opportunities. 25 bikes were distributed this way. Bikes being loaded for Alice Springs
November, contacted Ian Thorpe’s Charity, which tends to focus on indigenous youth. We offered bikes if needed. At this stage we are assisting them in the logistics of starting up a similar program as we have, to obtain old bikes from the public sector. This appears to be the most practical way to assist, due to the large distance factor, between Sydney and Katherine.
We were also fortunate to meet up with others with bike projects underway. These people opened up many doors for us, which has moved the mission along quickly. Contact with African Refugees from Sierra Leone was established, both parties agreeing on the benefits of working together. They had a similar idea, also having a large collection of bikes and other useful items intended for their home country. On 30/11/06, the local paper ran another article, focusing more on a need for large storage space and sponsorship. After this article was released, many more bikes were donated, plus a large storage space was offered to us at Kurnell. Around 20,000 sq metres. All under cover.
December has been very busy, with an extremely enthusiastic team member, Raymond Hilli, putting a lot of time and effort into shipping contacts, web designers, and prodding us to move at a faster rate. With the new storage premises details completed, we can now expand to a more serious number of bikes. Donated storage at Kurnell Shipping costs to Ghana in Africa, are to be payed for by an American man, who runs a bicycle project in that country. The Channel 9 TV news also visited, doing a feature on the project, which went to air on Christmas Day, bringing more bikes. The Sutherland Police also donated more bikes. Also, we managed to send 220 bikes to Deadly Treadlies, a group located in Alice Springs, N.T. We give a special thanks to Northline Transport for reduced transport costs.
CONCLUSION
So its been a busy year, and there are many people we wish to thank for making this all possible. It’s a long list, so we won’t start. At the end of the day, this is a goodwill mission. The purpose is not to get some recognition, or be known as an amazing person. Our idea is to open an avenue, that will help to make a difference in peoples lives. The bikes being a great service to humanity. In our humble opinion, the bicycle is the most useful invention made to date. It is environmentally friendly, hard working, easily maintained and requires no feeding.
Why not give it to people, who’s lives can be made so much easier by carrying loads, obtaining water and giving medical help. Bicycles create employment opportunities and travel to distant places which are not feasible by car or foot.
|
Annual Report 
