Volunteer Opportunities

Ready to volunteer, or have questions? Please contact Mari (831.375.6278).

Want to see who else is helping?  Refer to Acknowledgements.

What kinds of volunteers are needed to maintain and expand the Bicycling Monterey website and projects? 

  • Computer programming experts
  • Computer-savvy folks to work in Rails, WordPress, Excel, Photoshop, Word, or other programs
  • Retirees and others with great communication skills
  • Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and 4-Hers (including exciting opportunities for Scouts working toward Eagle rank)
  • Students meeting community service requirements
  • Spanish-language translators
  • Avid cyclists who can keep their finger on the pulse regarding local infrastructure needs and pending projects, do careful research and stay informed by attending related meetings, and write guest posts for this site’s Local Bike News section
  • and other volunteers, ages 10 to 100!

Please refer to “Examples of volunteer tasks” below.

Bicycling Monterey volunteers in cooperation with and in support of many of Monterey County’s Bicycle Shops, Services, Clubs, and Resources, as well as with other municipal and civic organizations, such as the Police Activities League.

Bicycling Monterey also initiates and carries out projects including establishing a bike repair and safety class at the Monterey County Youth Center,  outreach regarding California bicycle laws and safety,  outreach to Spanish-speaking cyclists, the HER Helmet Thursdays ecology-economy sustainability project, and more.

The Bicycling Monterey website and projects are a community service of Mari Lynch, recognized by the City of Monterey, City of Seaside, Monterey County Health Department, National Steinbeck Center, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Naval Postgraduate School, California State University Monterey Bay, Monterey Institute of International Studies, Monterey County Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Sea Otter Classic,  Transportation Agency for Monterey County, Monterey-Salinas Transit, California Bicycle Coalition, and many others, and recommended and featured by media including KUSP Central Coast Public Radio, KSBW, the Monterey County Weekly, the Salinas Californian, and the Monterey County Herald.

Contact Mari to learn more.

Examples of volunteer tasks

If you have (and in some cases, if you want to learn) solid skills that can be applied to bike advocacy, there is probably a task just waiting for you!

In addition to the needs mentioned on this page, a long list of various tasks awaiting helping hands is available.  Please contact me (831.375.6278)  if interested.

  • Maybe you enjoy computer work–either as an expert, or as someone who likes to learn and has a record for accuracy with repetitive tasks (from updating RSS feeds to adding links to emptying spam folders). 
  • Perhaps you have great communication skills, and you like to make phone calls or do in-person visits.
  • You may be out biking all the time, and can be relied on to write up accurate bike-there tips to one or many locations.
  • Creativity expressed through words or images?  Help design graphics, write, edit, or proofread. 
  • Or your thing may be tackling a variety of office tasks, or doing something else entirely!
  • Bicycle advocacy:  What you can do.  Tells ways to help improve bicycle infrastructure.  Also gives more ideas about how and why to help with the Bicycling Monterey site and projects.
Examples of special needs
  • If you are a programmer and know Rails, your help is needed to maintain the application for the HER Helmet Thursdays database.
  • Over half of Monterey County students speak Spanish as their primary language at home.  Whether fluent or with minimal Spanish-language skills, volunteers can help expand local bike advocacy.  How? If you’re fluent, translate more local bicycling info.  If you know a little Spanish and have good people skills, distribute mini-fliers or posters announcing the Spanish-language bike resources available.  (At this time, Spanish language resources on the Bicycling Monterey website are on this webpage (click here).  Translation is especially needed for the CA Bike Laws and Personal Safety section, and would also be helpful for the HER Helmet Thursdays Staff Reference Sheet.)
Prefer to support the work with money, rather than time?

Donate by debit or credit card, via PayPal, by clicking on the “Donate” button on this site.   For more information, including about donor acknowledgements and donations by check, please see Donations.

Please contact Mari (831.375.6278) for more info.

Posted by: marilynch on September 22, 2011.
Last revised by: marilynch on May 1, 2012.