Patchogue church bike giveaway for workers

A Patchogue minister has two words for the economy's victims: free bikes.

On Saturday, those who ask might get a new or used bicycle at the Congregational Church of Patchogue, where the Rev. Dwight Lee Wolter's Workers Without Wheels event will be held for people who can't afford cars and gas.

"We are in the midst of this recession that won't let go," said Wolter, with 70-plus bikes to give away and more expected.

Nonprofits, church officials and a local bike club said they're seeing more Long Islanders pedaling to work and to job hunts. Fans of free bikes said more giveaways will be needed if the Metropolitan Transportation Authority chops half the Long Island Bus routes as proposed.

For Diane Worden, the bike commute is 20 minutes between home in East Meadow and her job in Uniondale.

If she had a car now, it would eat her pay, she said: "I wouldn't have enough money for food and heating bills and things."

She rides a mountain bike and is looking for a cheap street bike that would be lighter.

At the Long Island Bicycle Club the calls have come early this year, in March, from the jobless and the cash-strapped trying to map out safe routes, said club spokesman Eric Bertrand-Loesch. In the past two years, he said, the club has gotten such inquiries about once a week during the warm months.

That's partly why Rev. Wolter seeks many more bikes: "There's got to be thousands of bikes sitting in garages. One of my concerns is, Will we run out of bikes and how soon?"

Across the Island, day workers rely on bikes. If the job's far, they pedal to bus stops, and it's common around Riverhead to see three or more bikes chained to posts or fences near public transportation.

The 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. bike giveaway event will have free food from Long Island Cares, free bike repairs, state labor officials and representatives from nonprofits on hand, and Spanish translators.