EVERETT, FEB. 13: Stanley was sitting with his broken bike in the alley outside Sharing Wheels Community Bike Shop off Broadway when he first met Ed Roos. Roos, the Program Manager for Sharing Wheels, saw Stanley and invited him inside to work on the bike together.
Two years later Stanley is a regular at the shop. He comes in to fix or DIY his bike, or just to say “hi”.
Over the years he has come and gone from Everett but seems to always make his way back to the community that Sharing Wheels provides. Stanley has been in and out of unstable situations, from housing to addiction, he said.
“You feel at one with the community. This is the model all community shops should be,” Stanley said.
Sharing Wheels is a non-profit with the goal of making Snohomish County a place where anyone can ride, fix or recycle a bicycle.
“When you walk in here, regardless of who you are or where you’re from or what your story is, we have a very welcoming atmosphere here and people feel that,” Roos said.
The shop offers a wide variety of programs and opportunities to make bikes easily accessible to the community.
On a typical day, volunteers and workers receive donated bikes, refurbish them and prepare them for use. Refurbished and tuned up bikes are then sold to support Sharing Wheels’ programs.
Riders can also use shop tools for free and fix their bikes right then and there.
For Sharing Wheels, there is no situation in which someone needs a bike where they can’t receive one.
The local community bike shop is just one organization in Everett addressing national issues from homelessness, mental health issues and addiction. Through partnerships with other local nonprofits in the area, they have widened their impact.
Partnerships to help those in need
Sharing Wheels has partnerships with Cocoon House, Work Source, Everett Public Schools, WSU Everett, Housing Hope and more.
Another partner is Everett Recovery Café, a center for people who are recovering from addiction, trauma and homelessness. Sharing Wheels provides bike vouchers to café staff to disperse to people who have been drug free for four months.
“They will tell me ‘now I can get to my appointments, I can get to work, I can get to school, I can go to interviews, I can get all of these appointments I have to do without walking’,” Roos said.
A bike voucher includes a free bike, helmet and lock. Last year Sharing Wheels donated 200 bikes to adults in need, and 150 to kids in need.
For Recovery Café members, a bike is the next step in their sobriety journey.
“Those guys are just phenomenal. They are just so appreciative of having that opportunity and they always tell me it’s a new and right direction to their sobriety,” Roos said.
A partnership with Volunteers of America Western Washington (VOAWW) showed just one of the ways Sharing Wheels is fulfilling their mission to support children in need. A big part of the Sharing Wheels program is supporting youth development, Roos said.
The partnership provided 46 bikes between September 2024 and January 2025 to Ukrainian Refugee children who are part of a Resettlement Program run by the VOAWW.
Galina Volchkova, Executive Director of Housing Services at VOAWW, knows how something as small as a bike can bring normalcy to a family in need.
“Children need some happiness in their life. And when they have a new bike that just tells them that life is good and they are taken care of. It’s a connection to culture and sense of belonging, acceptance. And that is why a bike from Sharing Wheels, this partnership, was a really a beautiful connection for us,” Volchkova said.
Russia invaded Ukraine nearly three years ago, forcing Ukrainians to flee their home. Roughly 6.8 million refugees from Ukraine have been recorded globally as of Nov. 24., 2024.
Washington State has welcomed more than 16,000 Ukrainian refugees since the war began. More than 4,000 were served by VOA’s Refugee Resettlement Program, adding 1,705 new refugees within the last year.
Volchkova, who came to America from Ukraine in the early 2000’s, said that settling into a new country is very difficult. The VOAWW Resettlement Program gives refugees the tools to be self-sufficient and successful regardless of obstacles, she said.
Between learning to navigate a new culture, finding a job and keeping up with the housing market, the gift of a free bike takes off some of the financial burden of resettlement, Volchkova said.
“The issue is, is that housing costs are pretty high and to be able to afford rent and all other basic needs, you have to have two jobs or have a really high paying job, which is hard for Ukrainian refugees with limited English and who are still adjusting,” Volchkova said.
Outside of sharing Wheels, the resettlement program has partnered with 27 other organizations to provide support to refugees such as providing backpacks, an ORCA card and even PUD assistance.
“It is really lovely to see the community-to-community collaboration and understanding and opening of their hearts to serve Ukrainian refugees that are trying to navigate their world here,” Volchkova said.
Addressing larger issues
In Roos’ and Volchkova’s experience, many of these issues need to be addressed at a higher level.
“We are addressing the need but it would be much better if we prevent the crisis from happening,” Volchkova said.
Last January 1,161 people were without permanent housing in Snohomish County according to the 2024 Annual Point-in-Time Count facilitated by the county’s human services department.
“Without intervention the housing crisis will continue to get worse. Housing affordability is the biggest issue that contributes to homelessness and our region, the state and the nation,” Volchkova said.
For Roos there are typically three categories of people who experience homelessness: those with mental illness, special needs and who struggle with addiction. Sometimes there is an intersectionality of all three.
Sharing Wheels’ goal is to first understand each individual’s stories and then help them improve their situations, even if it’s simply to keep their bikes moving, Roos said.
“I feel that so often the homeless are being rejected everywhere they go and people are not trying to understand their stories. They don’t ask enough questions,” Roos said.
To learn more about Sharing Wheels or to get involved, visit their website here. Or stop by to purchase a bike to support their mission.
