Bike Kitchen preparing for move to Lincoln’s Muny Bath house and could use a little help

First things first: The Lincoln Bike Kitchen has a new home.

The volunteers who run the organization haven’t moved in yet, but they’ve jumped through every hoop, gotten every approval and permit, and signed every agreement. And soon the old Municipal Pool building at 308 S. 21st St. in the Telegraph District will become the hub of their operation.

It will be twice the size of the space they have now and they’ll use every inch.

“The kitchen is just kind of growing up,” said Bob Von Kaenel, board president, who started volunteering when he retired.

What started out as a few people getting together to work on bikes and give them away to neighborhood kids has turned into an organization with 20 to 30 volunteers that last year gave away 1,300 bicycles to anyone who needs them — kids and adults, including refugees and others who use the bikes primarily for transportation.

“It’s just grown and grown to the point where we’ve outgrown our space,” he said.

Now they’ve got a new space twice the size of their old one, but before they move in, they need to do a little fixing up.

They’ve already put in new floors, and they’re getting compressed air to the building and are awaiting mechanic benches. They’ll update the lighting and plan to build a shed — dubbed the storage annex — to store donated bikes waiting to be fixed up.

To that end, in January they started fundraising and have raised 72% of a $500,000 goal — and they’re seeking additional donations to raise the final $136,000. To donate, go to LincolnBikeKitchen.org.

The donations they’ve gotten so far include a $200,000 matching grant from the Harbor of Dreams Foundation.

“Harbor of Dreams Foundation strives to support children, youth and families in our community,” said Pat Beans, the foundation treasurer. “They found the Lincoln Bike Kitchen mission and … building project aligned with the foundation’s vision to continue to provide opportunities for those seeking a brighter future.”

The group also plans to use the donations to pay the salary of an executive director for two years — the first paid staff of the all-volunteer-run organization.

“As our impact grows, our board of directors understands that hiring staff to manage the day-to-day operations is imperative,” Von Kaenel said.

Ingrid Krist, who is acting as interim director until a permanent director is hired, said with the move, the board saw an opportunity to do things the organization hasn’t been able to do up to this point.

It hopes to create more partnerships, offer education and increase community outreach — ultimately getting more bikes in the hands of the kids and adults who need them.

The Bike Kitchen grew out of a barter system restaurant owner Pepe Fierro began years ago where customers could bring in bike parts and leave with food.

More than 12 years ago, what had become a full-fledged volunteer group rented about 2,300 square feet near Southwest First and A streets.

They’d been looking for a new space for some time when some of their volunteers — including recently retired Lincoln Parks and Recreation Director Lynn Johnson — happened to know the city’s historic bathhouse was in need of a tenant.

The city had been looking for a good use for the old bathhouse for years, and will continue to use a portion of it.

Turns out, the Bike Kitchen and Lincoln Parks and Recreation was the perfect marriage.

The missions of the two groups are similar, both promoting cycling for transportation, recreation and wellness, said Parks and Recreation Director Maggie Stuckey-Ross. 

“I’m just so proud to have them there,” she said. “It’s on the trail system. It’s such an active use area, to have such a positive use and reason for people to go to this building we’ve loved for many years — it will be fun to have the public back in the building.”

Making it happen took a while.

Lincoln’s municipal pool opened in 1921 and closed in 1972, but the bathhouse remained and earned a historic designation from the Nebraska Historical Society.

That meant the Bike Kitchen volunteers had to get the OK from the Historic Preservation Commission, as well as the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. And because the building sits on land restricted by the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission in consultation with the National Park Service also had to sign off on the new tenants.

The new storage annex will be on the south side of the building, where the mechanic’s stations will be located. Finished bikes will wait on the north end and will be distributed from the loading dock — a much less congested area than their current location.

Hopefully, by the end of the summer, the organization will be ready to move in, Krist said.

So far this year the organization has donated 460 bikes — on track with last year’s 1,300 despite the work to relocate. With the new space, it hopes to hit 2,000 bikes in 2025.

“I hope we can equal what we did last year and we’ll blow past that the following year,” Von Kaenel said.