During the beginning of the University of Oregon campus closure, two of Emerald Media Group’s delivery bikes were stolen from their bike cage. Since then, Emerald staff recovered the two bikes, but they are in need of essential repairs.
In order to raise funds to repair the bikes, Kathy Carbone, EMG’s vice president of operations, set up a GoFundMe with a goal to raise $2,500 by the end of August. The fundraiser has already earned $1,850 in donations.
Carbone said EMG was able to survive without the bikes during the summer, but with fall term approaching, she said they are essential.
“It’s reached a point of urgency to where we’ve got to get these things fixed because we don’t have any other way to deliver the paper,” she said.
EMG switched to bike delivery in 2009, after previously using cars. Carbone said the bikes have proven to be more financially efficient because EMG doesn’t have to reimburse delivery workers for gas. Using bikes is a more environmentally friendly option, as well, she said.
“It’s actually easier to deliver newspapers on a bike,” Carbone said. “You can pull right up to the campus building or pull right up on the sidewalk to wherever you’re going, versus having to find a place to safely park your car and then walk the newspapers to the box and then come back.”
Tyler Arana, the delivery manager for EMG, has delivered with these bikes for years. For him, a typical delivery morning begins at 5:30 a.m., where he organizes the crew and gets everyone en route, he said. Then, the next two hours, at least, will be spent on the bike.
Arana said he has been in the cycling community for a while and has a love for bicycles.
“When I was in high school, I didn’t have a lot going for me,” Arana said. “And so I picked up a bicycle and that just opened up a lot of doors for me. It just made me see not only how much I was capable of, but how much a bicycle was capable of.”
After the bikes went missing, Arana set out to recover them.
“I have a lot of connections in the community, and you know everyone did their part in getting the word out,” Arana said. “I just had a friend of mine tell me ‘Hey, I think I know where these bikes are.’”
After some investigation, Arana found the two bikes in different locations. He said he was excited that he was able to recover the bikes, despite their need for repair. Both bikes had been damaged and were missing parts after apparent attempts to be disassembled, he said.
Since these bikes were custom made and are highly specialized, they are much more expensive to replace or repair, Carbone said.
“They manufacture those one at a time,” she said. “It takes six months to get one and they cost about $3,000. So they’re highly specialized, just really expensive bikes.”
While the repairs will be expensive, both Arana and Carbone encourage community members to donate.
“They are for students and they’re by students,” Arana said about EMG’s publications. “A lot of students get ‘the know’ on what’s going on in the university or what’s going on in Eugene through these publications.”
“I understand that students don’t have money or a lot of money,” Carbone said. “But just sharing it with your family and friends who might have money or making a donation as small as $5 if you can, would help.”
