Ride It Forward

Mobility, Mentorship & Global Solidarity

The Ride It Forward initiative connects community recycling efforts here in Canada with life-changing opportunities for disenfranchised youth in Benin, West Africa.Right here in the Lower Mainland, we collect donated bicycle and motorcycle parts, components, and tools. We intentionally hire, mentor, and provide a supportive community space for isolated Canadian men and boys to manage this hub. As they collect, dismantle, sort, and inventory these parts, they learn invaluable hands-on mechanical and logistical trades—transforming a workplace into a sanctuary of routine, purpose, and brotherhood.

Once sorted, these components cross the ocean to Benin. By focusing on a region deeply marked by the historic Transatlantic slave trade (specifically the port of Ouidah), we turn a historical site of forced movement into a modern space of freedom, mobility, and independence.

🛠️ What We Are Collecting

We accept working, repairable, or clean dismantlement bicycle and motorcycle parts, components, and mechanics' tools. We specifically look for:

  • Bicycle Components: Frames, forks, chains, sprockets, derailleurs, brake assemblies, handlebars, pedals, and tire tubes.

  • Motorcycle Parts (especially 100–150cc displacement): Carburetors, CDI units, ignition coils, chains, sprockets, brake pads, shoes, cables (throttle/clutch), air filters, fuel pumps, and intact small engines.

  • Workshop Gear: Hand tools, wrenches, socket sets, chain breakers, screwdrivers, and heavy-duty organizational bins.

Unsure if your parts fit our program? Drop us a line and our shop team will gladly confirm.

🚫 What We Cannot Accept

To keep our international shipments safe, environmentally responsible, and legally compliant, we strictly do not accept:

  • Fluids of any kind (engine oil, fuel, hydraulic fluid, chemical cleaners)

  • Batteries (lead-acid or lithium-ion)

  • Severely rusted, structurally cracked, or unusable scrap metal

  • General household or non-transportation items

📦 How Your Donation Moves: The Four Stages of Impact

Every gear, frame, and tool donated to our Vancouver facility travels through a complete circle of human and environmental restoration:

  1. Local Mentorship & Sorting: Your parts are received by our team of local Canadian men and boys, who are paid a fair wage to clean, dismantle, quality-check, and catalog the inventory.

  2. Tiered Packing: Items are meticulously packed into our structured transit system: The Box (essential master tools), The Barrel (complete units of mobility), or The Shipping Container (bulk mechanical inventory).

  3. The Journey of Solidarity: Shipments travel from the West Coast of Canada to our trusted community partners on the ground in West Africa.

  4. Empowerment and Livelihood: In Benin, these parts fuel localized vocational workshops. Disenfranchised local youth learn the mechanical trade, assemble the fleets, and gain a sustainable livelihood, while their neighbors gain vital transportation to access work, school, and healthcare.

📍 How to Donate (Vancouver & Lower Mainland)

  • Drop-Off Days: Join us at one of our scheduled community collection events across the Lower Mainland.

  • Shop Partners: Leave your parts with select local motorcycle and bicycle shops partnering with our society.

  • Direct Pickup: For large commercial donations, shop clean-outs, or estate lots, contact us directly to arrange a pickup by our shop team.

⚓ Partner With Us

We work hand-in-hand with the local automotive, motorcycle, and cycling communities to make a lasting difference. We actively partner with:

  • Motorcycle and bicycle repair shops

  • Riding groups, clubs, and collectives

  • Trade schools and mechanical pre-apprenticeship programs

  • Scrap yards, eco-depots, and green recyclers

Benefits for Partners: You ensure the responsible, ethical reuse of machinery, keep valuable parts out of landfills, and receive public community recognition through our non-profit's platforms and events.

🌲 The Big Picture: Building the Sanctuary Estate

Ride It Forward is entirely self-sustaining. The daily operations of our mechanical shop, alongside our Sunny Son botanical foraging line, generate the vital revenue needed to fund our ultimate dream: securing a permanent rural property and residence.

This estate will serve as a permanent haven for isolated men and boys, featuring our mechanical workshop, an art space, a music studio, and our permanent botanical memorial garden where the names of those lost to the toxic drug crisis are carved in stone forever.

Every gear you turn over to us brings us one step closer to purchasing the land and opening the gates to this permanent home.

Get Involved Today

  • Donate Parts to clear your shelves and fuel a life.

  • Sponsor a Tier (Box, Barrel, or Container) to financially launch a shipment.

  • Host a Drive at your shop, club, or school.

  • Volunteer to mentor, sort, or pack alongside our team.

“The sun sets on many, but their light remains in the lines we draw—and the sanctuary we build—forever.”

 

Tier 1: The Box — $150 to $250

  • Suggested Mount: $200

  • Where the funds go:

    • $100 goes directly to paying a local Canadian man or boy a fair wage for a half-day of structured, mentored work dismantling and sorting parts in the shop.

    • $100 purchases a high-quality, heavy-duty mechanics' toolkit (wrenches, chain breakers, specialty drivers) and the cargo box to pack it in.

  • To the Donor: "For $200, you are simultaneously funding a day of meaningful, paid vocational training for a local youth at risk, and packing a custom box of master tools that will cross the ocean to build an independent livelihood."

Tier 2: The Barrel — $750 to $1,500

This mid-level tier is perfectly suited for community groups, cycling clubs, corporate teams, or donors who want to sponsor a complete unit of mobility.

  • Suggested Amount: $1,000

  • Where the funds go:

    • Funds the collection, refurbishing, and preparation of multiple complete bicycles and small motorcycle engines.

    • Covers the cost of an industrial, secure transport barrel.

    • Covers the overland freight and port logistics required to safely ship that heavy barrel from our Canadian hub to the coast.

  • To the Donor: "For $1,000, you fund an entire vessel of independence. You cover the workshop labor to restore multiple bicycles and components, pack them securely into a heavy transport barrel, and pay the logistical freight to get it across the sea to Benin."

Tier 3: The Shipping Container — $5,000 to $15,000+

Our legacy/major donor tier for philanthropic foundations, corporate sponsors, or angel donors who want to fundamentally shift the trajectory of the organization and build the permanent estate.

  • Our Tiers (Two Options):

    • $5,000 (Container Co-Sponsor): Funds a dedicated portion of the ocean freight, customs clearance in Cotonou/Ouidah, and local distribution workshops.

    • $15,000 (Full Container Legacy Sponsor): Funds the entire logistical journey of a 20-foot ocean container, with a massive portion redirected to the land fund.

  • Where the funds go:

    • $6,000 covers international ocean freight, port authorities, customs duties, and setting up the distribution workshop on the ground in Benin.

    • $9,000 goes directly into the Adam Sun Sanctuary Estate Land Fund—securing the permanent rural property, building the mechanic shop, music studio, art space, and the botanical memorial garden.

  • To the Donor: "At the $15,000 legacy tier, you anchor our entire ecosystem. You fully launch an entire ocean container filled with a year's worth of mechanical inventory to transform a community in Benin, while directly laying the financial bricks to purchase our permanent rural sanctuary and memorial garden here at home."

 

  • [ ] $200 — Sponsor a Box ("Equip a Hand" )

  • [ ] $1,000 — Sponsor a Barrel ("Move a Life" )

  • [ ] $5,000 — Co-Sponsor a Container ("Build a Bridge" )

  • [ ] $15,000 — Full Container Legacy ("Secure the Sanctuary Land" )

  • [ ] Custom Amount ("Every dollar fuels the path forward.")