(Video Above: Yellowhammer takes you behind the scenes at Redemptive Cycles)

Redemptive Cycles in Birmingham, Ala., isn’t your typical bike shop. It’s more like a community. Actually, it’s more like a family — a really big family — one that includes hundreds of individuals from every imaginable background.

Marcus Fetch and his small team at Redemptive Cycles rebuild, repair and resell used bicycles, but they’ve also created an “Earn-A-Bike” program that allows low-income and homeless individuals in the area to “buy” or build a bike in return for putting in a certain number of work hours in the shop.

“Guys come in for like a day, like 8 hours, and they just hang out and they do some work and we get to know them, and at the end of it we give them a bike for free,” Fetch explained to Yellowhammer. “There’s something about just hanging out with somebody, treating them as a normal person and saying, ‘I really enjoy your company, I really enjoy hanging out with you.’ And when you do that, especially to guys on the streets and to people trying to get back on their feet, it really impacts them.”

Yellowhammer spent some time with the Redemptive Cycles crew this past week. Check out the video above for the complete, inspirational story.

And if you’re interested in getting involved and offering support, check out the “Tall Bike Joust,” which is exactly what it sounds like(!), coming up this weekend at Good People Brewing, or take a look at Redemptive Cycle’s GoFundMe page.

Follow Cliff on Twitter @Cliff_Sims