Featured Volunteer: Bob (and Cindy) Teach

Bob and Cindy Teach volunteer with the crew up at Otterbein United Methodist Church in Hagerstown. The outreach ministry at Otterbein is quite active so many activities keep this couple busy throughout the year. But bikes definitely keep Bob moving!

We have partnered with Otterbein UM since we formed as BfW in 2005. That makes this year their 20th bike collection with us! And they haven't missed a year, even during the pandemic. Some years have been busier than others- it is not at all unusual for this crew to collect 300 or 400 bikes annually. And in the earlier years, that was ONLY during their ONE day collection event, the last Saturday in April. Now the congregation collects more bikes throughout the year, most of them dropped off and stored with Collection Manager, Mike Johnston who has warehouse space through his business.

But we at BfW can tell you, there are plenty of calls that come in where people want to donate a bike but they have absolutely no way to transport it OR they just absolutely cannot hold on to it for one more second, so there's no waiting until the NEXT Otterbein collection event, which might be weeks or months away. This is when Otterbein sends up the Bob signal. Bob handles most, if not all, of those mid year pick up requests and he does it with a smile. He never minds the work and enjoys the conversations with donors while he makes the pick ups. 

Come April this dynamic duo springs into action. They have both been on hand at the collection event for years, helping to plan and set up the sustenance corner. We all know how the weather can be that last week in April, could be cold, could be rainy, could be snowing or sweltering hot. No matter the weather, donuts and coffee always get the morning off on the right foot. And Bob and Cindy make sure the volunteers are fed and happy throughout the day. And at the end of the event they also stick around for clean up.

This year Otterbein was gunning for a big year to surpass the 5,000 bikes donated mark...they came oh so close. They collected 179 bikes....and 21 sewing machines! The sewing machines are heading to Costa Rica in the upcoming weeks and many of the bikes just left for Ghana. Their overall total is now 4,954 bikes. We are personally excited about this especially since they will be continuing to collect bikes all summer. As we gear up to celebrate 200,000 bikes later this fall we hope to be celebrating along with Otterbein, who will by then, have those 5,000 bikes under their belt. We can't think of a better way to celebrate 20 years together.