We’ve had a couple of great conversations with reporters and podcasters recently!

The Hill Country Observer stopped by for an interview and published this lovely article, giving an artsy creative glimpse into philosophy and the fluid nature of The Old Stone Mill Center. Have a look at their excellent photography and this great, up-close and personal narrative.

» The Old Stone Mill turns waste into wellness
Story and photos by Kate Abbott, November 2, 2022

Also, Mass Recycle recently caught up with Leni for a pod-cast. Listen here, to hear Leni describe the Old Stone Mill Center’s Mission in her own words. It was a great, upbeat and in-depth discussion.

Come on down to The Old Stone Mill Center at 2A Grove street in Adams, Ma. We are excited to be participating in Art Week Berkshires over two weekends.

» Here’s the map

Come hear Pauline Dongala and Mike speak about our work together, helping her send supplies to her home village of Bikie in the Republic of Congo. Pauline has been working for years, building a church and school and next a water well. We’ve been customizing upcycled bicycles for multipurpose use, making them strong enough to carry multiple riders or large loads of material. We’ve also been sending linens, grain bags and other useful items along with the shipping containers that Pauline organizes.
Saturday, August 13, 2022 • 7 PM
Monterey Community Center
468 Main Rd., Monterey, MA

The Old Stone Mill Center in Adams is a Zero Waste Maker Space. Most of the hundreds of bikes in the building have been rescued from landfill along with other surplus materials from local industry. Now 26 of those bikes are cleaned up and being sent to The Republic of Congo this Sunday.

This story began when Great Barrington resident Pauline Dongala visited the Old Stone Mill Center to pick up linen discards collected there. Sheets, hospital johnnies and scrubs were loaded in her car bound for a rural hospital in her mother country. 

During Pauline’s tour of the mill she asked about purchasing children’s bicycles for her container. Mike Augspurger, a long time bicycle engineer/ bike builder and owner of the Mill responded by offering them for free as there is such a surplus here. When she saw a rack on a bike she said in her country it would be used to carry people. She told of how much difference bicycles can make in villages like hers. The few bikes available in the region are used to carry goods, water, and even extra riders.

This captured the imagination of Augspurger. He has since made sturdy plywood decks for each bike bound for The Congo even the smallest 16” wheeled kids bikes! The decks are welded to the frame and made from reused bicycle parts. Each deck will hold hundreds of pounds of goods or people. Bikes are rare and a status symbol in The Congo. For children to have a bike their size is unheard of. Pauline expressed, “Supplying bikes for children will be a revolutionary act.”

Bikes in this shared shipping container will go to 3 villages, Bikie, Moukassi, and Bidoua.

Other materials from The Old Stone Mill Center’s Zero Waste inventory will also be making the voyage: 

– Seed/Feed and Brew bags in rolls of 25 are surplus here, but valuable there selling for as much as $5 apiece in the local market. They are used if available to carry cassava, charcoal and produce to market often by bicycle.

 – Bicycle inner tubes with punctures will be sent and used there to strap water and crops on a bike, like a bungie cord.

– Irrigation Drip tape from our farm fields

The container should arrive at port in 4-6 weeks and the bikes will hopefully be in the villages  by mid July. Mike and all the volunteers who have worked on the project are eagerly awaiting the first photo of Congolese children on one of the bikes riding to their new primary school!

The Old Stone Mill Center plans to continue the project. Volunteer bike mechanics and those who want to learn are welcome to contact us. More information about the project or to donate funds for bike parts is available online at www.oldstonemillcenter.org.

Pauline Dongala is fundraising to build a water well for the primary school, the first water well in the village. Donations may be made at her GoFundMe page for the project at tinyurl.com/bikiewaterwell. 

The Old Stone Mill Center takes donations of surplus materials from local sources. These materials are used in our Maker Space as part of a reuse inventory for remaking, repairing or redistribution.

Bicycle use is central to our mission, and it’s our passion, whether it is here in Adams or other parts of the world. We have been taking donations of bicycles at the mill for five years. As you might guess, there are quite a few (around 200) very inexpensive bikes, especially small ones for kids. These kids bikes have very few miles on them. We have started bike programs at Youth Centers, given them away, and sold them, but we still have plenty. That’s where Bikie comes in.

The Village of Bikie:  Republic of Congo

Bikie is a village in The Republic of Congo.  Our neighbor in Great Barrington, Pauline Dongala, is originally from The Congo. Pauline and three other Congolese have been sending containers of needed supplies to the Congo for many years. We met because she was interested in sending surplus linens we collect at the mill for her container.  That’s when we learned about her new project. “Bikie has not changed in the 19 years I have been in the U.S.”, she says. “There is still no electricity, no school, people still carry their water from streams. My siblings and I got together and decided to change that state of things by building a public primary school.”

“In my village, that rack would be for carrying people or things”.

It turns out that there are very few children who have bikes in The Republic of Congo. Most adult bicycles are used for utilities. They are a status symbol and rare. 

Children walk for 1-3 hours to get to school not just in The Congo, but many countries in the world. Just imagine if they could ride a bike!  Pauline enlightened us when she said, “ Supplying bikes for the children of Bikie is a revolutionary act.” 

This has started a unique partnership. The Old Stone Mill Center is now in the process of building sturdy plywood decks on our surplus kids bikes to add to Paulines’ shipping container to Bikie. These decks are strong enough to carry multiple people or 5 gallon containers of water.  We are also working on front racks, foot pegs, hand holds, and tie down straps to make these bikes as useful as possible. There are many programs that send bikes to the developing world. You may be familiar with Bikes not Bombs or the Buffalo Bike.

How you can help:

There are no programs that we know of that are sending kids bikes outfitted with sturdy racks like in the photo. Our goal is to expand this program with help from kids in the Adams area.  We hope neighborhood kids will enjoy learning simple bike mechanics for bikes that go to kids their age in the Congo. They can also be the test riders. It’s hard for us adults to test ride 16” wheeled bikes!   

Donate bikes especially cruisers, inner tubes, pumps, bike parts, new water bottles, water bottle cages: 

If you are involved in sending shipping containers with supplies for the developing world please contact us. Let’s work together. 

Donate money to drill a water well in Bikie. paudongala@gmail.com

Contact Mike and Leni at: info@oldstonemillcenter.org or call 413 634-5591 to donate bike related supplies or take a tour of the mill to see the bikes. Strict Covid protocol and an appointment time is all we ask.

» Great coverage by Scott Stafford of the Berkshire Eagle

Local cable station, Spectrum News, came to interview us about our work making sure bicycles are available during the pandemic.

Bikes Being Rebuilt, Refurbished for Kids in Adams

ADAMS – Mike Augspurger started building and repairing bikes decades ago.
And now he’s refurbishing and selling bikes he’s collected over the years, to help meet the high demand during the coronavirus pandemic.

“Rather than just have these bikes sitting around, waiting to be repaired, we’re scaling up and repairing them now in order to get them out there and people riding them instead of them just sit here,” Augspurger said.

Augspurger works out of the Old Stone Mill in Adams, which he and his wife are converting into a community re-use workshop and arts space.

There are dozens of bikes available. The only requirement is to make an appointment in advance, to ensure social distancing.

“Look online, Old Stone Mill Center on Facebook. You can see all the bikes that we’ve listed on there. And then call and make an appointment, and we can bring the bike outside,” Augspurger said.

» See the clip here

Baker-Polito Administration Announces $1.9 Million for Collaborative Workspaces

Program funds physical infrastructure that will benefit entrepreneurial ventures at thirty-one local organizations

WORCESTER, January 9, 2020 — Today, the Baker-Polito Administration announced $1,892,910 in grants to 31 organizations to strengthen community-based innovation and entrepreneurship in 22 communities throughout the Commonwealth. The fourth round of the Collaborative Workspace Program, administered by MassDevelopment, will build physical infrastructure to support new entrepreneurial ventures while spurring innovation and job creation at the local level.

“Massachusetts’ economy thrives when local entrepreneurs, creators, and small business owners have the space and resources they need to be successful,” said Governor Charlie Baker. “The Collaborative Workspace Program represents an important tool for our Administration to foster innovation and drive job growth in the Commonwealth.”

“I’ve been proud to tour several coworking spaces around the Commonwealth to see firsthand how the Collaborative Workspace Program is supporting job creation and community building,” said Lt. Governor Karyn Polito. “I was pleased to announce grants today to 31 organizations, which will use funding to improve or expand their coworking spaces, buy needed equipment, or explore opportunities for a coworking space in their city or town.”

Lt. Governor Karyn Polito joined MassDevelopment President and CEO Lauren Liss, Worcester City Manager Ed Augustus, and WorcLab Executive Director and Board Chairman Larry Genovesi to announce the awards today at WorcLab in Worcester.

“This funding builds on the Baker-Polito Administration’s first economic development bill and three grant rounds we have supported since 2016,” said Housing and Economic Development Secretary Mike Kennealy. “Coworking spaces are at the epicenter of Massachusetts’ innovation ecosystem, and we are pleased to further invest in these unique facilities in every region of the state.”

“The Collaborative Workspaces Program provides the infrastructure for Massachusetts residents to grow their businesses, advance ideas, and connect to one another with an energy that drives our communities forward,” said MassDevelopment President and CEO Lauren Liss. “MassDevelopment is proud to administer this forward-thinking program on behalf of the Commonwealth, and we thank the Baker-Polito Administration, the legislature, and the Barr Foundation for their continued support.”

Through its first three rounds of grants, the Collaborative Workspace Program provided over $5 million in 81 awards for the planning, development, and build-out of different types of collaborative workspaces.

MassDevelopment’s continued partnership with the Barr Foundation broadens the reach of the Collaborative Workspace Program to include the creative sector, a critical source of innovation and positive community change.

“It is our privilege to partner with the Commonwealth and MassDevelopment on this investment in artists and creative entrepreneurs to bolster Massachusetts’ innovation economy,” said San San Wong, Arts & Creativity Program Director at the Barr Foundation. “In the supportive environment of these collaborative workspaces, they will develop new ideas, find new partners, launch new enterprises, and grow small businesses that will infuse vibrancy and economic activity in their communities.”

In June 2019, the Baker-Polito Administration and MassDevelopment announced the opening of the fourth round of program grants. Eligible organizations could apply for either seed grants to plan and study the feasibility of new collaborative workspaces, or fit-out grants to develop and expand existing workspaces.

Through the first three rounds of the program, collaborative workspaces have added 3,771 users since implementing their grant-funded projects, and occupy approximately 575,000 square feet in cities and towns across Massachusetts. Many awards have benefited innovation spaces in the state’s Gateway Cities.

“We are really proud of the grassroots innovation that has taken hold here in Worcester, and now has a home right downtown in the Printers Building,” said Representative Mary S. Keefe. “This Fit-Out grant helps to spread the wealth of our Commonwealth and allow for more folks to have opportunity for making and creating.”

“Congratulations to WorcLab on today’s announcement and I look forward to great things to come out of this space.  We’re seeing coworking and manufacturing organizations like this creating dynamic spaces for everything from entrepreneurs to afterschool programs,” said Mayor Joseph M. Petty.  “I want to thank the Baker-Polito administration and the Executive Office of Housing & Economic Development for their continued support of Worcester and for subsidizing so generously the cost of discovery in our growing innovation economy.”

“WorcLab is grateful for the continued support of MassDevelopment,” said WorcLab Executive Director and Board Chairman Larry Genovesi. “Our goal is to create entrepreneurial opportunities for Worcester’s diverse community. These grants allow us to continue to improve the WorcLab facility and offer new and innovative programs to our members.”
____________________________________

About MassDevelopment
MassDevelopment, the state’s finance and development agency, works with businesses, nonprofits, banks, and communities to stimulate economic growth. During FY2019, MassDevelopment financed or managed 316 projects generating investment of more than $2 billion in the Massachusetts economy. These projects are estimated to create or support 9,743 jobs and build or preserve 1,992 housing units.

Old Stone Mill, Adams – $75,000
The Old Stone Mill aims to be a community-accessible space for creative expression, collaboration, innovation, and zero-waste practice and education. The center will use this grant to bring the rehabilitated mill building up to code and allow the center to open to the public by improving the electrical system and completing water sealant projects and accessibility improvements.

» Read about other grant recipients on the Mass Development site

Announcing the release of the BagShare’s fantastic, new comprehensive how-to video. Learn how to made BagShare Seed, Feed and Malt Bag Initiative bags in 2 minutes or less, from materials diverted from the waste stream.

Audible Café recently published an interview they conducted with us in December of 2017. Podcaster Judy Eddy braved the cold to talk with us for a long time at the Old Stone Mill, just as Phase 1 renovations were getting underway.

» Listen here online here