MISSION
White Oak Bicycle Cooperative (WOBC) is a volunteer-run 501(c)(3) nonprofit community bicycle organization that provides free bikes, donated to and refurbished by WOBC, to schools, government agencies and nonprofits. WOBC also provides access to bike-repair services and bike-safety education programs for schools, partner organizations and communities across Southeast Tennessee. Executive Director Blake Pierce adds that enhancing public health is at the core of WOBC’s mission.
HISTORY
Holder of a master’s degree in health promotion from the University of Alabama, Pierce was teaching in the exercise/health-sciences program at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga when he launched WOBC in 2020. “It started as a garage project,” he says. “A neighbor and I saw a kid riding a bike on our street with no shoes and no brakes. We thought we’d get him a (refurbished) bike.” Volunteers worked in their basements and garages to repair and refurbish donated bikes. Pierce says WOBC moved to its current location, on Lyndon Avenue in Red Bank, when his wife decided there were too many bikes in their backyard. In 2021, WOBC started hosting pop-up bike giveaways and providing free bicycle repair. In 2022, with support from the Tennessee Highway Safety Office, WOBC also launched its bicycle safety education program. Pierce says 2023 was “the growth point” for WOBC, when “we really started distributing massive amounts of bikes. We realized this could become something that could work … a legit organization meeting a need.”
SCOPE