JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Hundreds of kids in Duval County are going to have a bike this Christmas thanks to the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree program.
One group is making sure those bikes are good to ride for a long time.
Some JEA volunteers call themselves “The Bike Brigade.” They spent Friday morning assembling donated bikes for next week’s Salvation Army Angel Tree distribution.
Michael Hinson started the Bike Brigade six years ago.
“When I was a small kid, I remember getting my first bike,” Hinson said, who has been working with JEA for 15 years now as a senior project cost specialist. “I still remember, here I am 70 years old now. Every time we put one of these together, we get that feeling back again.”
They assemble donated bikes fresh out of the box and do safety checks on others, including adjusting handlebars, seats, brakes, adding on training wheels and pumping the tires with air.
“Just to know that a lot of the moms and dads who get these [for Christmas morning], do not have the air guns or air pressure gauges to make adjustments for the kids,” Hinson said. “Or in this case, when we are putting together an electric car, the battery may not be charged in it. If you are a kid, what do you want? You do not want to wait eight hours for the battery to charge.”
More than 700 kids are receiving a bike.
Adrian Akins and Margaret Taylor were among the JEA volunteers. This is not their first rodeo and they never hesitate to sign up each year.
“I like the look on the kids' faces, Akins said, who has been employed with JEA for nearly six years.
“I am one of the people who have been in their shoes to where I could not get some of the things that I wanted to for Christmas. It is always good, giving back to the community and things of that nature. There is no better joy. With me being a father myself, just seeing how the kids face is light up whenever Christmas time comes around. At one point in time, before I finished college, I was running a youth development program and we did things like this. It is always a good thing to give back to the community.”
“I have never had children, therefore, I do not have grandchildren,” Taylor said, whose career with JEA is in its ninth year. “This is an opportunity to give back to kids that I have not had in my life.”
This is a one-day event with tons of effort.
“I feel so good every time we do this,” Hinson said. “So does everybody else who put these bikes together. We just get such joy out of it. It is like Christmas morning all over again. Who would not want that?”
The Angel Tree distribution is scheduled for Dec. 18 at the former JC Penney site at Regency Square Mall.