Lions expand bike giveaway program

By Hasani Grayson • July 10, 2019 1:30 am

Gene Schermer and Al Waters don’t ride bicycles anymore, but they’re more than happy to give them away to children in need.

The co-chairs of the Aberdeen Lions’ bike giveaway program are expanding the club’s traditional Christmas season giveaway with plans to distribute dozens of bikes this summer.

At various points during the next couple of months, the Lions will invite families to the club’s bike storage building at the Grays Harbor Historical Seaport. The facility currently has 80 refurbished bikes, and more will be dropped off at Stafford Creek Corrections Center to be restored by inmates for the program.

The bikes currently available range from tricycles for small children to full-size bicycles for older children in need of a mode of transportation this summer.

“We have a lot of bikes right now, and we want to give bikes away. That’s what we’re here for,” Waters said.

Schermer and Waters still plan on doing a big giveaway around Christmastime, when they hope to have 150 bikes available.

The Lions Club relies primarily on the social services office at the Aberdeen Salvation Army to determine which families need the bikes the most.

“The Salvation Army has the ability to do the vetting,” Waters said. “We want people that can’t get them otherwise. If you drive up in your Lexus, I’m wondering why you need a bike.”

Waters and Schermer focus on collecting bicycles in need of restoration. They are always accepting donations of bikes in various states of wear, and they deliver the bikes personally to the prison to be fixed up.

Inmates are typically able to restore about 15 bikes every two weeks. With the number of bikes yet to be given away, the Lions Club is anticipating it will have more than enough bikes to donate throughout the summer and in December.

The Lions Club has been giving bicycles to needy children for almost 20 years since taking over the program from the Kiwanis Club in 2000.

Schermer said he is glad to see the program expand since it benefits everyone involved.

“(The inmates) do a great job, and it’s a win-win program,” he said. “The offenders working on the bikes are able to do some useful work and learn some useful skills.”

Hasani Grayson | Grays Harbor News Group Aberdeen Lions Club member Gene Schermer smiles while looking over the collection of bikes ahead of the club’s summer bike giveaway.