“IT’S REALLY FUN TO GIVE THE MONEY, BUT I GET JUST AS BIG A KICK OUT OF KEEPING BIKES OUT OF THE LANDFILL AND INTO THE HANDS OF SOMEONE WHO REALLY WANTS IT.” hundred. They are stored at a nearby vocational school and are dropped off right at the front door the day of the sale.
them all lined up by size and make, with all the front wheels tilted at the same direction in time for the pre-sale Friday evening.
When the sale weekend finally arrives, volunteers get set on their tasks. When I arrive at 7:30 on Friday morning, I’m surprised to find close to three dozen people ready to help out. I see my parent’s friends from college, our neighbors, my dad’s fishing-club buddies and my uncle and cousins. The semi pulls up and we start unloading. Bikes are organized into children’s, men’s, women’s, road bikes and vintage/classics, but not before more than 1,000 tires need to be aired up. Several volunteers have brought their own air compressors, and there are a few on hand at the shop. The seemingly monumental task is shockingly done in just a couple hours. My Uncle Dave sets to the task of getting all the bikes in line, and true to his unbelievable attention to detail, he has
Local high school honor society members volunteer to stay up all night and watch the bikes to make sure no one runs off with them, and after a 12-hour Friday set-up day, the main event arrives. Like a wave, people come rushing in, searching for the best selection early. Some have heard about the sale while others drove by and stopped to see what all the commotion is about. Volunteers in bright green shirts direct eager shoppers to the style of bike they are looking for, help adjust the seat to proper height and let them go for a test ride. Others man the shop for last-minute tuning and adjustments, and more take payments in the form of cash or credit. It’s a whirlwind of a day, and after four hours there are just a few dozen leftover, all of which will go to another garage sale to benefit a
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local juvenile diabetes organization. In 10 years, Rick has donated $177,257 and saved thousands of bikes from landfills, but what might be most important to him is completing a cycle that started when he was mentored as a young boy. My dad has always been honest with us about the home he grew up in and how his father was not a nice man, putting it lightly. A neighbor, Russell Godfredson, sensed this and gave my dad a job in his Schwinn Bike Shop where he would earn $.15 per bike putting pedals, handlebars and seats on boys’ and girls’ models. It was a place where he was safe, treated with respect, taught the rewards of hard work and lessons in perseverance, something he instilled in his own children and something he hopes to instill in the other children he continues to mentor today. “The whole point is to let them know that you care, that they have value to you and that you