The stereotype of a Richmond biker as a tattooed, Pabst Blue Ribbon swilling, skinny jean-wearing road bike rider might change. Thanks to an organization called U-Locks of Love, the term “good Samaritan” might soon be added to that list.
In fall 2007, Brian Wysong, a kinetic imaging major, and Richmond resident Jennie Stuart began a program called U-Locks of Love. The program’s goal is to raise money for bicycle locks for inner-city children. Because of neighborhood crime, kids couldn’t leave their bikes unattended without risk of theft.
To raise money, U-Locks of Love placed coffee cans and buckets at local stores.
“Suzy (Critchlow, a friend) and I came up with the cans,” Stuart said. “The cans and logo were a marketing idea for people to recognize.”
When U-Locks of Love thought can donations were failing, the group decided to do benefit events. They were helped by a group of Richmond bicycle enthusiasts known as Riders of the Apocalypse.
“Marshe (Wyche, the owner of Rumors) was kind enough to let us have a show at Rumors, and we had a dance party,” Wysong said. “We had two shows; one at the Food Not Bombs House, and then a ‘Race to Purgatory’ was an unofficial benefit to U-Locks of Love.”
Altogether, the organization raised about $350 – enough to buy 25 U-Locks, which were passed out at the end of spring and at the beginning of the summer.
“Wyatt (Kingston) passed them out to the kids,” Wysong said. “We showed them how to lock them up.” Wysong knew Kingston through a family friend who worked at the Church Hill Boys and Girls Club.
Years before there was talk of the bike locks, Wysong and his friend Barry O’Keefe, a William and Mary student, started a robotics club at the Boys and Girls Club.
“They were the only inner-city program to have won anything in robotics,” Kingston said.
Kingston is currently the assistant supervisor for Hillside Recreation Center, known for being a rough area.
Recently in the Hillside area, two brothers were found dead with their throats cut, and a teenager was shot.
“It’s a pretty bad neighborhood,” Kingston said. “It’s a housing project neighborhood.
“Most of them couldn’t afford a bicycle lock, which is why they didn’t have them,” Kingston said. “A lot of times the bicycles they got were through the Angel Tree for Christmas, but they (kids) didn’t actually get locks.”
The effect on the children has been tremendous.
“It has given them a lot of freedom and has enhanced their lives to the point where they can go somewhere and secure their bicycle,” Kingston said.
As for the future of U-Locks of Love, there are many plans in the works, including providing simple mechanic classes for children and taking them to a BMX dirt-bike course.
“We’re trying to start two more programs with the Richmond Refugee Resettlement program (The Virginia Council of Churches Refugee Resettlement Program), to get them about 10 bikes a month so they can fix them up for refugees in Afghanistan and Pakistan,” Wysong said.
U-Locks of Love will be picking up unused and discarded bikes from Williamsburg and William and Mary police forces.
“Hopefully, (we) will be working with two more Boys and Girls Clubs,” Wysong said.
“I really want U-Locks of Love to create awareness of hope in our struggling local and cycling community,” Stuart stated in an e-mail. “I think it’s time the erratic, drunk, hipster bike scene stereotype changed. We are cyclists just trying to do something positive for the community.”