Building Bikes Leaves a Lasting Impact
By Nicole Eaton,
Charlotte Communications & Marketing
Every December, employees from Management & Financial Services (M&FS) along with other departments work to build bikes for local kids. The event is a partnership with Right Moves for Youth and The Spokes Group. Shop Manager Gene White with Fleet Management has been involved with the annual bike build event and for the past five years has offered the Atando Avenue Fleet Management shop as a location to build the bikes.
Gene manages the Atando Avenue shop, which provides maintenance to city vehicles. This includes scheduled services and quick services such as changing windshield wipers. More importantly, Gene says it’s the people he works with that have made his 26 ½ years with the City noteworthy.
“I love my job. I love the people here. When you come to work, you might as well do something you enjoy.” — Gene White, Management & Financial Services
Gene and his coworkers volunteered to build bikes on Saturday, Dec. 10. Nearly 25 city volunteers including family members attended the bike build. The group put together 75 bikes. Assembling the bikes takes between 60 to 90 minutes, but the volunteers also spend time with the kids that attend. Each bike is inspected for safety checks before leaving the facility and then are given to local kids in the Right Moves for Youth Program. Kids earn the bikes by receiving good grades and demonstrating good behavior.
“We make the event fun, bringing in some coffee and donuts. People bring their families and we take out the golf carts and ride around with the kids,” says Gene. “Really we just spend a couple of hours on a Saturday morning to help out.”
The bikes leave a lasting impression on local youth. One girl who participated in the program still uses her bike today, but now it’s to ride around on her college campus. Her example shows the volunteers that this small event has a big impact on young lives.
To learn more about Right Moves for Youth, please visit www.rightmovesforyouth.org.
