School was back in full effect by the time September rolled in. Pretty standard RUBARB open shop days throughout the month. RUBARB has seen lots of shining stars taking on extra responsibilities and earning Bike Bucks while learning more bike repair skills this month.
The 2nd Annual RUBARB volunteer retreat happened at the end of the month. On the last Sunday in September volunteers Woody, Liz, Jonah, Chris & Virginia biked to St. Bernard State Park. We enjoyed the long bike ride, had a great picnic in the misty rain, and met about new initiatives for RUBARB in the coming year.
Some of the exciting news from the retreat is that we are working on rolling out a new program called the RUBARB Tool Belt program where youth learn and perform specific skill sets to earn. Building off the momentum from Bike Bucks and the hope to encourage more youth leadership at RUBARB, the Tool Belt program is an exciting next step for the shop! The program was initially conceived of by Darren who volunteers on Mondays at RUBARB. We took his initial design and ran with it! RUBARB will start the Tool Belt program in January 2015.
Another necessary adjustment that we all agreed on is hosting monthly volunteer orientations at RUBARB. The orientations will cover volunteer roles and responsibilities, expectations and other important information that new volunteers will find helpful in learning more about what RUBARB is all about. The first RUBARB volunteer orientation will be on Wed November 19 at the shop. Stay tuned for more info about volunteer opportunities!
