Let’s be honest: learning to ride a bicycle can be harder than it first appears. Some learn within a few short tries while others push the pedals, wobble a bit, fall down, and repeat over and over until they eventually master it. No matter how long it took you to learn how to ride a bike—and even if you cannot ride one—there is a place for you to serve and impact others through Urban Bicycle Food Ministries. 

Urban Bicycle Food Ministries (UBFM) is a completely volunteer-based non-profit organization devoted to providing food, supplies, and compassion to those in Memphis as well as Des Moines, IA, Dubuque, IA, Nashville, TN, and Chicago, IL. Started seven years ago by Memphis Theological Seminary student Tommy Clark, the ministry has expanded to include two weekday shifts, three bike routes, and 500 to 600 burritos and hotdogs made weekly in the Memphis location alone in order to impact countless individuals. Whether it be helping prepare food in the kitchen, organizing provisions and tools in their supply room, or biking in a group to reach people across the city, UBFM emphasizes the important role each volunteer has in “bringing light and love to their community.”

While volunteering in the kitchen at UBFM, I was able to see the tangible impact of teamwork and dedication. By forming an assembly line and working together, we were able to cook and package 250 burritos and hot dogs in a mere hour. The food was then placed in backpacks and given to bike riders to in turn be served to 50 to 100 people within the downtown Memphis area. 

After finishing our work in the kitchen, I sat down to chat with Amy Chadwick, a woman who has been regularly serving at Urban Bicycle Food Ministries for about five years. When asked about her motive for volunteering, she talked about a very difficult season of life she walked through and her realization that, “there has to be something I can do with my life here,” to rediscover joy. She began searching for volunteer opportunities and discovered UBFM, a ministry that simply wanted her time as she could give it. 

Later in our conversation, Chadwick talked about the necessity of volunteers to UBFM. She asserted that the scope of the ministry’s impact is broad, extending from people who are homeless to those a part of the working poor class. Because the organization meets these people where they are located throughout the city, manpower is needed to travel to and connect with them. She said, “The ministry is 100% volunteers, so without volunteers we couldn’t do it…What we did tonight could not have been done without the amazing group of people who took time out of their day and life to make sure the people on the streets are fed. Just because they are on the streets doesn’t mean they have to be hungry.” 

Once the bike riders were sent on their way to pass out food and connect with Memphians, Danya McMurtrey and I had a chance to discuss the impact Volunteer Odyssey has made on UBFM since she began serving there. McMurtrey said, “Every volunteer that we’ve seen come in the kitchen in the past year has come through Volunteer Odyssey…It’s been extremely influential in helping us serve.” For an organization that continues to flourish through volunteers and donated goods, a reliable platform such as VolunteerCompass is essential to successfully operating the ministry.

To practice your burrito-folding skills, accentuate your bike riding expertise, and connect with other volunteers all while positively impacting those in the community, sign up to serve through Urban Bicycle Food Ministries at www.volunteercompass.com.