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Featured Volunteer: Jeff Colaianni


In reality volunteer Jeff Colaianni has only been with Bikes for the World for a little over a year. No, really, we've checked multiple times. It only feels like much longer because it was a covid year. And everything seems much longer during a pandemic. It goes without saying, Jeff's contribution to Bikes for the World couldn't have been...
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Featured Volunteer: David Hickson


David Hickson is another one of those Bikes for the World supporters who goes way back. Like double digits. David manages the collection at his school, Sandy Spring Friends School (SSFS). Over the years the school has contributed many bikes to the program and offered service hours to students. They are not an annual collection site, instead sk...
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Featured Volunteer: Charley Young


Charley Young is a high school senior at St. Andrews in Potomac. Let that sink in a second. Class of 2021. Homecoming, prom, college visits, robotic competitions, athletic scholarships, your own parking space at school. Going out for burgers, hanging with friends at the mall, watching the newest blockbuster in a theater, your first t...
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Featured Volunteer: Frank Smith


Frank Smith is one of our faithful, weekly volunteers who helped keep us rolling through the pandemic. Frank came to us shortly after we moved into our Rockville warehouse and he's been spending nearly every week with us since! He is part of the crew who strips usable parts from our scrap bike pile which just seems to keep growing. Not to make it a...
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Featured Volunteer: Richard Silva


Bikes for the World works with hundreds of volunteers annually, many of them offsite that we never get to meet or thank. Richard Silva is one of them. Richard is a vehicle maintenance coordinator with Fairfax County. He's also a welder. And an artist. The bike sculpture he's leaning against in the picture above is one of his works of art (our ...
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Featured Volunteer: Densroy Reid


Mr. Densroy Reid (left), D. Reid, or just simply Reid has been hard at work for Bikes for the World for years now, although he may not look very familiar to anyone hanging around our warehouse. Don't let all the bikes behind him fool you, this isn't actually OUR warehouse. Mr. Reid works at Preferred Business in Elmsford NY and these are just ...
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Featured Volunteer: Dhruv Sundararaman


Dhruv Sundararaman (right) is one of three scouts this fall who helped launch our collection season under unusual circumstances and protocols. Arnav, on the left, was another working on his Eagle project and also from Troop 1983. Both scouts contacted us last year to set up bike collections as their Eagle projects and both were scheduled this sprin...
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Featured Volunteer: The Crawfords


Meet The Crawfords: Tom, Carrie, Scott, and Paul, or Paul, Carrie, Tom and Scott if you are following along in the photo. The Crawfords have been fixtures at the Otterbein United Methodist Church collection in Hagerstown since 2005. We've actually watched the boys grow and mature into quite the bike mechanics. Their willingness to le...
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Featured Volunteer: Bob Knoll


Bob Knoll is one of the most sought after and valued Bikes for the World volunteer varieties. Don't get us wrong, ALL of our volunteers are super important and highly regarded in our warehouse, but Bob has a truck and trailer and he knows how to use it to move bikes!  Bob actually came to know us through a bike collection held at Temple S...
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Featured Volunteer: Ron LaCoss


Who's that masked fella? Oh, just your run of the mill Bikes for the World Superhero- Ron LaCoss. We are super excited to announce we welcomed back select volunteers this week, starting with our elite mechanics who work the day shift (we actually did a trial run with our Thursday night regulars last month). Ron jumped at the opportunity to get back...
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Featured Volunteer: Ron Boyd


Ron Boyd is a Thursday night regular. Sometimes it's just him alone in there prepping bikes for the next big shipment, but we've come to rely on him quite a bit to keep that room under control. Knocking those bikes back every week not only helps us fill our containers for our partners around the world but it also helps Jonathan and Glenn have ...
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Featured Volunteer: Amy Loar


So this is Amy and Phil Loar...two long time supporters of Bikes for the World. We've already highlighted Phil before and we truly can't say enough about this guy, but this time our focus is on his wife Amy who is an avid quilter. And as you might guess, has her own sewing (or quilting) circles. She helped us close the circle on a local mask m...
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Featured Volunteer: The Greenhalghs


Heidi, Abby, and Walt. This month we are giving a shout out to The Green Team. This family of bike mechanics is far from green, unless you count those old Raleighs (center photo) they built up for the DC Tweed ride. This crew certainly knows their way around bikes and our bike stands and we love seeing them in any combination during our r...
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Featured Volunteer: Judy Mitchell


Judy Mitchell has been working with Bikes for the World longer than any of the current employees, and more recently she has really upped her game. She is now counted among our elite team of retirees who can frequently be found tinkering around the warehouse on any given day. Judy started volunteering with us alongside her husband, Jim Mit...
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Featured Volunteer: Ben Beach Cruiser


Once upon a time we were like the little engine organization that could- chugging along with a passionate conductor named Keith who convinced everyone in his wake to jump on board. Bikes for the World Founder Keith Oberg kept us on the rails and brought on volunteers with a shared vision who not only helped us pick up steam...
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Featured Volunteer: Walter Mulbry


Walter Mulbry has never owned a new bicycle, or so the tale is told. We've seen him tinker with Treks, Schwinns, and the latest e-bike to roll across our threshold, and we believe him. He may have never owned a new bike, but he's had his share of bikes in the family. Around our warehouse he's absolutely electric! No joke, he drives an ele...
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Featured Volunteer: Dennis Kiernan


Dennis Kiernan is the owner and manager of Preferred Business in Elmsford New York. He is also operating the official/unofficial NY arm of Bikes for the World. There's really no other way to describe it. We can, however, also give due credit to his entire team working at Preferred Business for lending a hand in the effort.  Dennis approached B...
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Featured Volunteer: Jeff Bruland


​It's almost unfair of us to call out Jeff Bruland as our featured volunteer of the month because as you can see in the photo, he is more than just a man. That's Jeff there in the almost middle standing with his wife Tina surrounded by the United Methodist Men from Montgomery UM Church in Damascus.  This is Jeff's second crew to visi...
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Featured Volunteer: Zoltan Nagy


​Zoltan Nagy has been on a few rides with us over the years, and I guess you could say he's redefining what cyclists call a Century. This year Zoltan spearheaded the effort with the Montgomery/Rocky Hill Rotary out of New Jersey where he relocated several years ago. He actually started collecting bikes with the Germantown/Gaithersburg Jaycees ...
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Featured Volunteer: Bill Regan


Bill Regan has been a regular Thursday fixture around the warehouse for the past year. He came to us at the end of last year and asked how he could get involved. He knew his way around a tool bench and brought with him mechanical experience. This guy's an all around handy-man working on his own bikes, cars, and doing home projects around the house....
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Featured Volunteer: Adela Wynn


​Adela Wynn (tucked in the back in blue) is one of the those volunteers who has been around with us since the beginning although less active recently than in the past. But we wanted to take this opportunity to remind you once you are a member of the Bikes for the World family, you are ALWAYS a member of the Bikes for the World family.  Ad...
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Featured Volunteer: Valerie Van Hollen


Valerie Van Hollen is the creative muscle behind the pen motivating Cumberland area donors to let go of their old bikes. Here she is accepting our coveted 1k award given to groups who have collected over 1,000 bikes for our organization (this was a few years ago). Don't count now, but her crew is set to break 2,000 by next year!  Her...
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Featured Volunteer: Logan Hay


Logan Hay set a Bikes for the World Eagle Project record last month when he collected 255 bikes for our program. He also raised over $1,000. So yeah, he's the featured volunteer of the month. How'd he do it? Well, we are still scratching our heads on that one.  When Logan came to us last winter he had his sights set on completing his...
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Featured Volunteer: Gordon Johnson


Gordon Johnson coasted into our coveted 1k Club as of last year, but we still haven't gotten around to properly inducting him yet! And depending on whether you use 'new' math or 'old' numbers this honor is well overdue. First, let's look at the 'new math'. Gordon has been a collection manager at Trinity United Methodist Church i...
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Featured Volunteer: Nate Murphy


This is Nate. A few months ago we received an email from Nate's mom Sarah. This is not out of the ordinary; we are contacted by many moms looking for volunteer hours for sons and daughters. In this case however, the email came from Sarah's account, which Nate was using to contact us directly. Nate took the initiative to reach out to us because he w...
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Featured Volunteer: Harry Betz


Harry Betz came to us by way of a collection held north of Philadelphia in Newtown, Pennsylvania. That collection occurred at Pennswood Village and was managed by Harry's long time customer George Kurz. George is also a long time supporter of Bikes for the World and he was in Harry's shop, Newtown Bikes, and mentioned the collection. Harry liked th...
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Featured Volunteer: Jeff Saxe


​As you can see Jeff doesn't just volunteer around bikes, he also rides them! That's sort of how we initially connected. Jeff was just dropping off a bike at a collection event over a decade ago, and here he is still hanging around! Jeff Saxe fell in love with the Bikes for the World mission and he saw a valuable resource in his own back yard going...
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Featured Volunteer: Sister ACTS


Sister ACTS is a group of devoted women out of Martinsburg West Virginia who deserve our highest praise. One of the group's leaders, Sue Ann Palmer, contacted Bikes for the World a little over a year ago to invite us to speak to the group. Outreach Coordinator Yvette Hess made the trip up to Otterbein United Methodist Church in Martinsburg, where t...
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Featured Volunteer: Woody Woodrich


​Meet Woody Woodrich, tired and true volunteer throughout the years. Woody became invaluable to us once we moved into our warehouses in Pentagon City. Woody helped us out by grabbing items left at bike shops over on the Hill which saved us the hassle of driving into the city. More importantly he kept us awash in tubes and tires. Back then we were a...
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Keith Oberg Honored by Bethesda Green


Our own Keith Oberg was recognized last month by Bethesda Magazine and Bethesda Green for his tire-FULL work creating, growing, and maintaining Bikes for the World for over a decade. We of course knew Keith created something special so it's very satisfying to see someone else noticing too. On October 17, Keith accepted the Individual Leadership Awa...
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Featured Volunteer: Noah and Sam


Noah and Sam first came to our warehouse last winter to get a few community service hours with their families. They are now our youngest regular volunteers. They've work their hours in among basketball games, summer camps, and homework...these guys are always moving! They didn't just happen upon Bikes for the World nor were they planning to check o...
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Featured Volunteer: Glenn Martin


Glenn joined the Bikes for the World team several years ago while we were still operating out of Arlington VA. No one may have been more excited to see us move back across the river to Rockville than Glenn. Back then we saw him maybe once a week, now it's once or twice a day! Glenn is a huge help to us given his bike knowledge and mechanics skills....
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Featured Volunteer: Glenwood Lions Club

Lions Joe Long, Pete Adams, Charla Long, and Harrison Morson

The Glenwood Lions Club started working with Bikes for the World back in 2005. Back then it was just an average collection at the Bushy Park Elementary School. In just a couple years it was moved to the middle school and became a project of the school's LEO Club, which engages youth in community service projects. Today through the combined efforts ...
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Tailwinds to Bob Leftwich


This month in lieu of our Featured Volunteer piece we are reserving this honored corner to say thank you to outgoing Operations Manager Bob Leftwich. Bob joined the Bikes for the World team in the summer of 2016 and guided our operation through two pivotal years. He jumped right into our fall season that year and before even getting grease on his b...
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Featured Volunteer: Records Family


 The Records Family has been wrenching bikes in Cumberland for longer than some of the brothers had hands strong enough to hold a pedal wrench. Mike and Sue (the parents) and their seven kids have been involved with the Cumberland Rotary/Western Maryland Wheelmen's collective Bikes for the World bike drive stretching back over many years. ...
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Featured Volunteer: Shane Sellers


What a guy! Shane Sellers has been a fixture, no make that an anchor, at the annual Rotary Club of Carroll Creek (RCCC) bike collection in Frederick for over a decade. Shane goes back through the history of this collection longer than most Rotarians have been involved with the project.  Shane is an art professor at Frederick Community College ...
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Featured Volunteer: Mike Johnston

Mike Johnston

Mike Johnston is as much a fixture of the annual Otterbein United Methodist Church as Collection Manager Cindy Brown. Really, it's more accurate to call them co-managers. Cindy handles all the emails and communications with BfW, and Mike is out there collecting bikes all year long. It's this dynamic duo that really gets the wheel turning on this ef...
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Featured Volunteer: Alex Obriecht


Alex Obriecht is the owner of Race Pace Bicycles which just opened its seventh store this past year. All locations serve as drop off points for Bikes for the World.Actually Keith and Alex have been working together even longer than we've been known as Bikes for the World. Part of the success of our relationship extends well beyond Alex. In each sto...
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Featured Volunteer: Joe Bolandrina


Joe Bolandrina has three container loadings under his belt, all at different locations. He's helped manage and mentor two or three bike collections for us. He's even done shop pick ups and individual pick ups. Impressive but not overly unusual you say? Did we mention he lives more than 400 miles away?? No lie. This guy is north, north, north of us ...
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Featured Volunteer: Ron Watts


This guy. What would we do without Ron Watts? Just look at him picking up and moving not one, not two, but three bikes...at a time! It would be understating Ron's worth to focus on him moving bikes, but quite a bit of his time has been spent on just that, moving bikes for Bikes for the World's South Carolina spin off. Not just some bikes, but hundr...
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Featured Volunteer: Ellen Condon


Bikes for the World is blessed with an amazing crew of volunteers who champion our mission at school, work, home...sometimes to strangers they meet on Metro. The reason we are able to affect the great number of lives we do around the world is because of our huge volunteer network. Many of our volunteers have been with us for years, even decades. So...
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Featured Volunteer: Linda Hansen


"I first met Linda Hansen maybe seven years ago when I first started working with Bikes for the World. That was four offices and six warehouses ago. I guess maybe we've both been around for a while," remembers Outreach Coordinator Yvette Hess. BUT, Linda predates BfW staff by just as many years. In fact she predates Bikes for the World itself! Lind...
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Featured Volunteer: Lucas Kramer


These kids above are some of our Filipino beneficiaries from Batangas Talahib Pandayan National High School and they are personally saying thank you to our Featured Volunteer of the month Lucas Kramer. So who the heck is Lucas and what makes him so special?  I actually know Lucas's parents from way back, but I only just met Lucas at the Altern...
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