Sarah Brown
Twins Kaydin and Xavier Pennington, 13, rolled away from the Boys & Girls Club of the Greater Santiam on their new bikes on Friday, Aug. 27.
They had just spent the week learning how to fix a flat, adjust brakes and perform basic maintenance on bikes they’d chosen for themselves from a selection of donated used velocipedes.
It was the culmination of the club’s nine-week summer program, which included enrichment activities such as kayaking, lacrosse, Frisbee golf, orienteering and a pinewood derby.
“We tried to make a list of things that either there was limited access to in our area, or that might be cost-prohibitive or that required transportation,” said executive director Kris Latimer.
The program, LEAP (Learning through Enrichment Activity and Play), was funded by a new grant made available to Linn County from Nike.
The Boys & Girls Club won $15,000 to provide enrichment activities for kids who may not have many chances to have a lot of broad experiences, Latimer said. Some kids from Sweet Home were selected to join the program, which was held at the club’s Lebanon location.
During LEAP’s final week, Lance Latimer, of the Boys & Girls Club of Bellevue, brought his WheelLab trailer to teach the kids how to repair and ride bicycles safely.
“I think it’s actually really cool because I’ve always kinda liked things like this where you take things apart, redo things and add things to them,” said Evelyn Mattingly, 12, of Albany. “It’s super fun.”
WheelLab, a nonprofit, provides week-long camps at schools, clubs and homeless shelters. Latimer gets bicycles from donations – usually from police departments – and uses them to teach repair skills before giving the bike to the student.
“The goal has always been for me that when they put the work in and theye’re done, it becomes their bike,” he said.
Running WheelLab out of a trailer was aanother important goal for Latimer, so that accessibility would not be a hindrance, he said.
“I wanted to make sure it got to the kids that needed it the most, and that they got a bike to have a solid piece of transportation to ride,” he said. “It’s also their first part of freedom.”