While our fearless leader Cary is enjoying a well-deserved vacation, we decided to treat you all to a guest post from none other than Adrian Palenchar, Founder and Manager of Operation Bicycle

Dear Friends of Teen Services –

What an exciting couple of years it has been for Operation Bicycle! In the last two years we’ve relocated to a standalone bike shop, seen an unprecedented amount of interest in cycling due to the pandemic, re-branded as a part of our merger with Boys & Girls Clubs of Sonoma Valley, and most importantly, seen significant increase in the number of teens we serve through our various workshops, volunteer efforts, and work experience opportunities.

For those of you who aren’t as familiar with Operation Bicycle, we are a community bike shop run by staff, volunteers, and teens who provide sales, maintenance, and repair services for the general public. We also offer a variety of vocational programs to help teens develop valuable mechanical, small business, and customer service skills. In the last 18 months, we have offered 24 community classes and had 85 teens participate in our workshops, volunteer service, and work experience programs.

We’ve also developed a new website, which I encourage you to visit by clicking here! The website will allow us to showcase our current inventory and even process sales online.

Building on the very successful Youth Development Internship Program of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Sonoma Valley (read more here) we will soon be launching a paid teen internship program through Operation Bicycle. Like our Youth Development Internship Program, teens will have the opportunity to learn valuable work and life skills while being paid, but the Operation Bicycle internship will cater to those teens more interested in working with their hands, in a retail environment, or who are interested in focusing on customer service skills.

As you can see there are lots of exciting things going on at Operation Bicycle, so please stop by sometime soon to see our new signage, meet a teen intern, and maybe pick up a bike while you’re here. Don’t forget to keep an eye on OperationBicycle.com for all the latest updates as well.

With Gratitude,

Lovin Oven Program Update: Summer Recap 

This summer six of our teens completed the Lovin Oven Culinary Academy course. Over the span of a week, they took a deep dive into a variety of culinary practices. Out of the six participants, only two had prior experience in our culinary program. One of our participants was a foreign exchange student from Mexico who learned about LOCA and signed up as soon as she came to the states. 

With Erin leading the charge, our teens gained valuable experience in the kitchen and even learned about growing their own produce in our garden. Teens harvested much of what we had growing to use for their showcase on the last day!

Our ADA (average daily attendance) at the Teen Center has grown to over 20 teens per day. Our team keeps the teens engaged with a balance of fun and engaging programs while also dedicating time for students to work on their homework.

This is the most teens we’ve seen on a daily basis at the center since before the pandemic, and most of the credit is given to our returning teens who have shared their experiences with friends. With the new wave of teens and the growing interest in the programs, we hope to share program opportunities with more and more teens in the community!