About God's Pedal Power Ministry, (GPPM)

GPPM is an all volunteer, and multi-denominational partnership between St. James United Methodist of New Tampa and University Baptist Church.  It falls under the 501c3 wing and insurance of the University Baptist Church, which is where the bike building is located.

The ministry was officially founded in July of 1997.  Its first official home was in a Sunday school room of the University Baptist Church, which is located in an economically challenged neighborhood.  GPPM volunteers work with people who are trying to rise above the challenges of their area.  We feel that children from disadvantaged homes need a chance, and people who are recovering, challenged, or who are just trying to find transportation for work need our help.  At first, children were our main focus, but as we saw adults who were sincerely trying to travel from the area to work, we refurbished more adult bikes to help.

As our mission expanded, we moved from the Sunday school room to two small donated portable buildings.  We stored the bikes and parts in the buildings, and volunteers would work under street lights in the parking lot of the church.   When it was cold, we would be cold, when it was wet, we would be wet, but we held together.   People who were moved by our efforts, helped us start a building fund for a permanent building, and in December of 2002, we had our Christmas give-away, out of our new building.  Others have stepped forward to help us wire in electricity, fans and lights, and we now have a wonderful facility where our volunteers can work.

GPPM receives names of people from referral agencies and case workers.   As we receive bicycles, our volunteers refurbish them and a match is made for the number of children and adult bicycles needed.  Once bicycles have been refurbished by our volunteers, the bicycles identification information is entered into a database for record keeping.  After a bicycle is adopted out to a new owner, we will continue to make minor repairs to the bicycle based on the identification number of the bicycle.

If you would like to get involved, or help GPPM, click here