Featured Volunteer: Anna

Anna found us when her school came to the warehouse for a service project connected with MLK Day last January. As a Sophomore she has plenty of time to complete her required 60 hours before graduation, but as a student athlete, you often have to focus on the summer to grab some hours. When Anna started thinking about where she wanted to volunteer she remembered when the National Cathedral School came to Bikes for the World and she was able to learn about the different parts and tools associated with disassembling bikes. It was a lot of fun, she likes bikes, and she wanted to make a difference in the communities we served- so they looked us up.

She and her mom started coming this summer during our Thursday night volunteer nights. Weekdays were tough, but they made it work. And boy were they a huge help to us! During the summer we lost a lot of our regular volunteers because of travel and vacation so the bikes kept piling up. There were many days when we couldn't even unload the truck until we made room in the warehouse. Together they made floor space, which we in turn, kept taking away with more bikes. 

Knowing that we were coming up on donating our 200,000th bike we would often joke that Anna was compacting bike number 199,984 or 199,992. So when it came time to prep the actual 200,000th bike it only seemed fitting that Anna be the wrencher. It came as a bit of surprise to her and she had no idea she would be asked to work under the watchful eye of two dozen other volunteers eager to load that bike in the container. But she handled it with style and grace. 

This Cannondale road bike was loaded on August 24th and is now on its way to our partner MiBici in Costa Rica. It was donated by Richard Delridge and compacted by Anna. A team of key female volunteers ceremoniously loaded it into the container and we fully expect to have the story of its new life back in time for our 20th year anniversary on October 26th. 

While the rest of us finished loading the container Anna, her mom, and Ngalula (who we featured in July) went back to compacting bikes in the other room. Even after some food and cake these three regrabbed their wrenches and turned pedals and handlebars. They didn't rest or quit until every last bike in that room was completed! This is something we rarely see...and it didn't last long, as they were walking out to the parking lot someone was dropping off another bike! And a week later...this room was overflowing with bikes again.