Featured Volunteer: Adam Humm

Adam Humm makes up a portion of what we are calling our Southern Maryland Bikes for the World Coalition. When folks visit our warehouse in Rockville they always ask us if this is it when it comes to BfW. And even though we joke and call it the World Headquarters, we usually say yes, there is no other BfW location. But that's not entirely true. 

In fact we have quite a few locations that really keep us going all year long. In Western Maryland we have the Cumberland Rotary/Western Maryland Wheelman. A little closer to home is Otterbein United Methodist Church/MS Johnston who collects bikes year round. Closer yet, the Rotary Club of Carroll Creek collects and compacts bikes year round. 

And among our newer partners in Southern Maryland we have Calvert County Government and Charles County Recycling. Calvert County came about when long time volunteer Ted Haynie (who really helped BfW grow into the organization that we are today) approached us about collecting bikes close to his home in Southern Maryland. He made that happen back in 2021 by working with the County Government for the space and donated container where bikes are stored.

We could ramble on more about that effort and all the work Ted has put in over the years, but this is about his newer right hand man, Adam Humm. Adam noticed what Ted was doing, or rather he drove by and kept seeing a stack of bikes. He was also noticing how the stack of bikes would sometimes change and assumed that people may have been cherry picking through them. 

So Adam reached out to Ted and said, I noticed a problem and I have a solution. He quickly became an important part of how donated bikes from Calvert County ended up changing lives from Africa to Costa Rica. He's been keeping an eye on the bikes, compacting them for shipping, and locking them up in the container until we can get down there to pick them up. He finds the work very rewarding and loves seeing the impact the bikes have on our beneficiaries. 

The appreciation from people who receive these bikes is truly inspiring. These bikes help people get to work, to school, pick up supplies, and in some cases transport those who are sick or need assistance. Knowing that something as simple as a bicycle can make such a meaningful impact on someone's life is what makes this work so worthwhile.

Adam Humm, Calvert County BfW Volunteer

Since Calvert County started collecting bikes for BfW in 2021 they have donated 913 bikes to our partner programs. They also inspired Charles County to set up a similar drop off point for bikes for us. Charles County Recycling has a been a BfW partner since 2023 and they have donated 1,986 bikes to help us change lives around the world. And since we are there...Trek Waldorf has also been contributing bikes to the program over the years...truly a Southern Maryland Coalition!