By Ed Roos, Shop Manager
Ed gave this speech to our volunteers during our annual appreciation picnic.
I’d like to thank our volunteers for all they do but I’d also like to speak for our customers. Sharing Wheels staff is not the only ones who are thankful for you. We hear everyday “I appreciate you.” This is why we do what we do.
We are in the business of helping people, proving a critical piece of their everyday survival.
There are kids who would not own a bike if it wasn’t for us. There are adults who would have no way to get to work if it wasn’t for us. We provide an important service and they appreciate us.
Not only do we donate hundreds of bikes a year to people in need but we also help low to no income people keep their bikes running.
Sometimes people who live on the streets use aliases, which I’ve included in my descriptions below. Here are just a few customers who appreciate our volunteers:
Hillbilly Jack appreciates you. He grew up in the Ozarks, has a very thick accent and stops by
weekly to work on bikes. He can fix anything and comes up with the most creative ways to solve
problems with his bikes. He finds bikes and fixes them up for other homeless people and kids in the area.
Dan the man appreciates you. He is incredibly intelligent, witty, funny, creative and king of the
one-liners. He’s an amateur bike mechanic who stops in regularly to use our tools, since most
people on the streets do not have access to the necessary tools to keep a bike going.
One eyed Willie appreciates you. He recently called me from Spokane, WA to tell me that he and his girlfriend are now off the streets. He called just to let us know that they credit Sharing Wheels for giving them a place to hang out, feel welcomed and earn a bike. He hung out on a regular basis, working on their bikes and did some art projects for us to earn a bike. He appreciates you.
Jose appreciates you. He works for Doordash and has to keep his bike moving. He often comes in – with a delivery on his bike – and a flat tire. We are able to work with him and get him going
quickly. On his way out the door, he always says, “I appreciate you.”
All three Chris’ appreciate you. The one who has bike OCD, fixes every little thing and is
extremely knowledgeable about bikes. He loves hanging out, talking shop and working on his
bike. The second Chris who calls himself a wino and offered us his only bottle of wine for a kid
bike work party. We declined but he was showing his ultimate sign of appreciation.
The third Chris has special needs and is easily agitated. We talk with him to de-escalate him and find out what he needs. We’re always able to get him back on the road. He stops in just to say ‘hi.’
There’s Bill who always has a smile on his face. He stops in on his daily bike rides, sometimes to ask for help and other times just to say ‘hello.’ He gets very excited when we empower him to do the work himself with our guidance, often commenting, “Hey, I did it.”
Mark who is the king of box store bikes and needs regular help. He’s very creative in how he fixes his bike and comes to us on occasion to help him get it all right again.
The guys from Recovery Cafe, Cocoon House and all of our community partners tell us every time how much they appreciate what we do when we give them a bike through our voucher program.
We also help those who are not low income with keeping their bikes running or getting new bikes. There’s the Saturday morning BMX guy who comes in every Saturday looking for BMX parts.
We have a steady flow of regulars who peruse our bins looking for good deals. There’s a man who comes from Canada for Campagnolo gear, every mom and dad who come in to find bikes for their kids. That includes the family from Germany who emailed us for 4 bikes to be picked up the day they arrived in the states to begin their 9-week journey of traveling in an RV with their kids…and 4 bikes.
I speak for all of these customers when I say THANK YOU, WE APPRECIATE YOU.
I’d like to finally thank the board and our executive director, Christy Cowley, for giving me this wonderful opportunity to manage the Sharing Wheels shop. It’s been a life changer.