Angel L Statement
Hey! My name is Angel and I love bikes and the Bike Kitchen. I hope you will consider electing me to our board.
I got started biking for real when I bike toured from Anchorage to Tijuana. Based on that I got a job as a bike messenger. Then I helped start the worker owned collective Box Dog Bikes. In 2008 I joined the Bike Kitchen. Brian Cavagnolo taught me how he kept the books here and I greeted at Laskie until we moved to our new space. Last weekend I biked to Bolinas.
The Bike Kitchen is truly an amazing institution and I am so happy to be a part of it. Obviously I love biking and am stoked to support the cause. But the really special part is that we are all volunteer and non hierarchical and it actually works. It more than just works – we it works really well for us and we are really good at what we do. It’s a great thing to be a part of.
My (non-board) work at the BK consists mainly of keeping the books and various related tasks. I reconcile the register sales and deposit the cash each week. I open the mail and pay the bills. I track the money-end of special orders and follow up with staff who haven’t paid. I track class sales and deposit that into our bank account. I pay the sales and use tax quarterly. I file our federal and state tax returns annually. I create an annual report at the beginning of the year for the group. Last year I invested some of our money in CDs. Some of the associated administrative things include other state corporate filings, insurance, etc. I’ve also been stoked to be doing some more work over the last year on our Community Development program (grant making) and helping out with staff parties.
I believe the board’s role should be very hands off and big picture, only stepping in when we, as the Bike Kitchen, are loosing touch with our mission or our continued existence is in danger. Fortunately this almost never happens. Regardless of emergencies that might befall us, the board is required to meet four times per year. This is a great time to talk about things going on at the Bike Kitchen, think of new projects or ways to handle aspects of the shop, etc, cause who doesn’t love talking about the Bike Kitchen? The other main way I act as a board member is by signing the tax returns, taking responsibility for the accuracy of the information reported. Bike Kitchen staff has done a great job handling all the day-to-day as well as big decisions which have made the Bike Kitchen what it is today. I look forward to continuing to help to make this happen as both a staff and board member.
