A New American Town - Bentonville, Arkansas

Empowering the Community on Two Wheels with Pedal It Forward

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Discover the incredible story of how bicycles are unlocking opportunities and enhancing lives in Bentonville and Northwest Arkansas with Kenny Williams, the dynamic leader of Pedal it Forward. 

Kenny joins us to share the captivating narrative of this nonprofit's quest to make a difference in the community. Through the collaborative power of local partnerships and a robust volunteer network, Pedal it Forward is not just promoting cycling as a fun, healthy activity, but also cementing its role in sustainability and the arts. 

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Speaker 1:

Hello and welcome to Visit Bentonville's A New American Town podcast. I'm your host, Stevie, and today's episode is sponsored by Oztrails. Kenny Williams, Executive Director of Pedal it Forward, is our guest today. We're going to talk about all the great work his organization is doing in Bentonville and Northwest Arkansas to help more people access bicycles. Welcome, Kenny.

Speaker 2:

Thank you for having me, Stevie.

Speaker 1:

Thank you so much for being here. We're excited to showcase the nonprofit Pedal it Forward today. So first off, can you please introduce yourselves. Let me start that one. I said introduce yourselves, all right, ready. All right, can we start off with you introducing yourself to our listeners and give us a little background on who is Kenny Williams?

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. I am a longtime recreation and cycling industry professional but a lot of my history was in university recreation, working with outdoor recreation programs, and that kind of led me into where I am today with Pedal it Forward, getting to focus specifically on the bicycling side of that world. But for the last three years I've been working to grow Pedal it Forward into kind of a more robust, sustainable organization that truly can claim to serve all of Northwest Arkansas.

Speaker 1:

And let's just jump right into what is. Pedal it Forward. Give us some details.

Speaker 2:

We're a local nonprofit charity organization. We work by collecting, repairing and distributing bicycles to our neighbors in need, and those can be new and used, recycled right. Indeed, we will take any bicycle that anyone will bring us. We do prefer ones that have less rust on them. But we deal in mostly used bikes and then also a lot of connections through industry partners and business supporters. We do get some new bikes sometimes.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely, and Give us a little bit of backstory on Pedal it Forward. How did it start? And also, how did you land as the current executive director? How did you make your way here?

Speaker 2:

So, way back in 2014, a couple of local folks, gary Vernon, justin Tubb and David Tovey they wanted to do this once, was the gist of it Give some bikes away around the holidays and what they found was they did that once and the bikes never stopped coming, and so they knew that they had something on their hands. And that's where we got to. Where we are today is really. The bikes never stopped flowing from the community. So a place to put them. We found a place to put them up on wishing Springs road, and, and we started recruiting volunteers and, and that grew slowly over the last 10 years to what we're doing today, which is thousands of bikes a year.

Speaker 2:

So, uh, I was lucky enough you know I was. I was planted at the Peel Compton foundation up here, uh, working at Kohler, and I was lucky enough to get connected, to pedal it forward living up here and and hear that that the organization was ready for a full-time director to really take it to the next level, and I just couldn't pass on that opportunity. So that was. That was three and a half years ago now.

Speaker 1:

All right, so we have you. Do we have any other full-time staff members or any other volunteers who are in on a regular basis?

Speaker 2:

We do. Uh, I feel like we're in the big leagues now. Over the over the last three and a half years, we've actually hired two full-time staff hey we have an operations manager who helps all operations.

Speaker 1:

And then, most recently, we've hired a springdale shop manager for the new shop opening in springdale absolutely, and we are going to touch on that new shop in just a few minutes before we get there. Um, you mentioned, okay, you have volunteers, you have people donating bikes left and right. Um, what are some ways Pedal it Forward is involved with the community other than just a bike giveaway here and there? I shouldn't say here and there. You do several a year.

Speaker 2:

Many bike giveaways a year.

Speaker 1:

Yes.

Speaker 2:

Um, you know, Pedal it Forward is our. Our main mission is giving bikes away, and we do that through partnerships with other organizations. That's the meat of our work is giving bikes to our partners. But we also are heavily involved in other tangents of the community. So we support a lot of artists, for example, who want to use old bike parts to build things. We provide bike frames to Nargo Bike Co, who upcycles them into these handmade cargo bikes, so we support a sustainability initiative in that way. We recycle hundreds of tons of steel every year. We get a lot of rusted bikes, so we're plugged into a lot of other folks that way, and then you may have seen us parking bicycles. We do valet bike parking at events around town and that's a fundraising endeavor for Pedal it Forward. That keeps our mission funded, but it's also a great way to provide a really cool service to the community.

Speaker 1:

On that, on the bike parking and valet, I just want to personally say how much I appreciate that service and your volunteers who are out there working those boots, because I know if I go to Fresh Grass Festival or if I go to another type of event, whether it's a biking festival or an arts and music performance I have a safe place to keep my bike. I don't have to drive anywhere. We can just ride into town, know our bikes are in a safe spot and ride home. And it's amazing. So I really appreciate that service. I know my husband and my friends and I we all always take advantage of it, um, so I'm so thankful that's here. Um, now we also have some criterium races in Springdale that happen once a month in the summer. Um, I think the next one will be in June. Uh, can you tell us? Are you involved in that in any way?

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. For a couple of years now we have been giving bicycles away at the Natural State Criterium Series and that's a great example of one community partnership. But we work directly with downtown Springdale and then we work with one of our partners and so this year year specifically we are working with Lisa Academy, which is adjacent to the race course, and we're working with their principal to find you know, we're going to try to find virtually every student at that school who doesn't have a bike at home or can't afford a bike, and over those criteriums, you know, we'll give away 30, 40, 50 bikes this summer.

Speaker 1:

That's incredible Changing lives of a lot of people through bicycles. No, I mean it.

Speaker 2:

That's awesome. A bike can change your life. It really can.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so, in terms of running the nonprofit Pedal it Forward, what are some highlights and some challenges of operating this organization?

Speaker 2:

We have a big operation that requires a lot of person, power and, um, one of I'm going to avoid saying fundraising, cause that's a little bit cliche. Of course I have to raise money, but, um, the value of the human capital that goes into Pedal it Forward is the absolute shining star of our organization. We would fold tomorrow if the, if the people stopped showing up, and when I say when I say showing up, I mean people who have been coming weekly for nearly a decade. I have a handful of those um people who are coming more than once a week. Uh, local businesses who are showing up two and three times a year. Uh, walmart, you know I have six, eight, 10 Walmart groups come through a year. But really it's, it's the, it's the incredible and recurring generosity of, of these people's time that allows us to do crazy things like give away 2,600 bikes in a year. You know I did not personally work on hardly any of those bikes, which makes me a little sad. I like working on bikes, but that's where that effort comes from.

Speaker 1:

So you mentioned some Walmart groups, some corporate groups. What are ways some companies can get involved with Pedal it Forward?

Speaker 2:

We love hosting groups and those can be custom scheduled. So we have our recurring volunteer hours when our quote unquote regulars join us. But outside of that you can reach out to Pedal it Forward to schedule a time during the business day to come, you know, as a team, as a corporate team or in the evening. A lot of social groups, church groups, teams, join us in the shop in the evening.

Speaker 1:

Fantastic and I think this is correct. Correct me if I'm wrong. You don't have to know how to build a bike in order to come volunteer, right? I know that's kind of like. The main objective here is to build these bikes to be able to give them away. What else can people do if they're a little nervous about maybe tinkering and wrenching?

Speaker 2:

absolutely. There is something for you to do at pedal it forward. We and and if your goal is to learn more about working on bikes, we're also a great place for that. But there is an immense amount of cleaning, organization, tagging, sorting, you name it. There's always something to do, and, and what I like to also remind people is you'd be surprised at how much you can get done, For example, on a kid's bike. 90% of repairing these kids' bikes is getting them clean, tires pumped up, fixing a few here's and there's. You know you don't have to be a mechanical mastermind to get a kids' bike 90% ready to go, so awesome.

Speaker 1:

Now, while we're focused on Bentonville here, we would be remiss not to talk about your new Springdale shop. So why don't you tell us a little bit about that and how it compares and or contrast to your Bentonville shop?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, absolutely, you know it's, it's all one family, and and the beauty of Pedal it Forward is that bikes that that may come in, that are donated in Bentonville might actually end up getting processed in Springdale and vice versa, and so it's all connected. And so, yes, we have a new shop that's opening at the Jones Center in Springdale and we're very excited about that. But the important thing about how it connects all three shops is that it's going to allow us to serve our Bentonville and Benton County partners better, and that's because we're going to pull volunteer labor, we're going to pull donations, we're going to pull partners from places that we weren't pulling before in Washington County, and so it will allow us to focus our efforts in a more concentrated manner in Benton County. So it's just going to make our entire mission a little bit more intentional to be able to spread that load out.

Speaker 1:

Now, Kenny, what keeps you showing up to work every day?

Speaker 2:

It's the end user, it's the stories that we hear, and those stories are varied. They come from children, they come from adults. I could share a story briefly. This was about two weeks ago. I met a woman here who was staying at the Salvation Army shelter, and she had actually purchased a returned e-bike from Walmart and spent every last dime on this bike to get to the two jobs that she was working, and it fell apart To nobody's discredit. She had a significant mechanical issue with it and was almost in tears about the fact that her investment was not serving her, and so that's just one example of how we were able to actually quickly get her rolling again.

Speaker 1:

So she came to you, y'all fixed it up, got her rolling again. She came to us, you y'all fixed it up, got her rolling again she came to us in the middle of a delivery to another organization.

Speaker 2:

We were dropping bikes off at another shelter in Rogers and she just collided with us serendipitously and we were able to get her bike working again, and so yeah.

Speaker 1:

Oh, I love that. She probably will remember you for the rest of her life.

Speaker 2:

I don't know that, but I know that we made a huge impact on whether or not she was going to keep those two jobs that she was working.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. And so, yeah, and what do you have as a goal for Pedal it Forward for this year? Anything in particular you hope to achieve as a goal for Pedal it Forward for this year, anything in particular you hope to achieve.

Speaker 2:

It's really related to my story. Pedal it Forward is going to continue to grow, but maybe not in physical footprint. We're going to grow in the way that we serve the community that needs bikes, and so something that we're going to start doing is opening up our shops more to the community and we're actually going to possibly be able important to keep a bike running, as it is to gift a bike If we're going to allow everyone in Northwest Arkansas to become a bicycle user.

Speaker 1:

Wonderful and what is something that you want people to know about? Pedal it Forward. I don't mean something that we can go on your website and find, or you know that someone's going to see in an Instagram post, like what is something from in your heart that you want people to know?

Speaker 2:

Well, the first is two things. First is a little bit businesslike, and that is let Pedal it Forward. Choose which bikes live and which bikes die. We're experts at it, so don't be embarrassed to make your donation and let us choose, because we can save a lot of bikes out there. And then the second is is don't underestimate the power of the final mile. We have millions and millions of dollars of free infrastructure in Benton County related to bicycles, and so when you're contemplating whether or not to support us, whether or not to donate that bike, just know that it, a bicycle, can be um, um, it can be a matter of physical feet between someone, between you, being able to use that infrastructure and not being able to use that infrastructure and the power of having the bicycle as a tool. Is is just so important and, uh, we see that story played out so many times, so, yeah, Wonderful.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for that, for your heartfelt answer, and, as we wrap up, can you tell us where people can find you online, social media?

Speaker 2:

We are at wwwpedalitforwardorg and on social media at Pedal it Forward NWA.

Speaker 1:

Well, thank you so much, Kenny, for joining us on today's episode of Visit Bentonville's A New American Town podcast, and thanks to you, our listeners, for tuning in. Be sure to follow OzTrails Visit Bentonville and Pedal it Forward on social media. We will see you out on the trails.