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Building a blizzard of bikes

Waste Connections' effort puts together 616 bikes for kids in need

By Patty Hastings, Columbian Social Services, Demographics, Faith
Published: December 8, 2016, 8:54pm
7 Photos
Simone Ranta, 7, tightens down a handle bar while assembling a bike with her twin sister, Estelle, during a bike building event at the Columbia Machine warehouse on Thursday. Waste Connections organized the event, with a goal of building 616 bikes for various organizations to distribute before Christmas.
Simone Ranta, 7, tightens down a handle bar while assembling a bike with her twin sister, Estelle, during a bike building event at the Columbia Machine warehouse on Thursday. Waste Connections organized the event, with a goal of building 616 bikes for various organizations to distribute before Christmas. (Samuel Wilson for The Columbian) Photo Gallery

Snow wouldn’t stop Santa’s elves from making toys at the North Pole, and the fluffy white stuff couldn’t stop local volunteers from gathering at a Vancouver warehouse Thursday evening to assemble bicycles for children in need.

Waste Connections’ annual bike build happened Thursday evening, turning Columbia Machine’s facility into a bicycle factory.

“I had more people tell me not to cancel than to cancel,” said Scott Campbell with Waste Connections.

Every year, Waste Connections — the company providing garbage and recycling services in Clark County — raises money to buy and give away bikes to children.

The Christmas Promise program has been happening nationally for 16 years and locally for eight years, Campbell said. Last year, Waste Connections gave away about 430 bikes locally, he said.

“This year, we purchased 616 bicycles and helmets,” Campbell said. “It’s the largest one we’ve ever done.”

He said he gets inquiries about the bike program in July.

The bikes are dispersed to agencies that work with needy or at-risk children, including the Camas-Washougal Fire Department’s and East County Fire and Rescue’s Christmas Activities Relief Organization Limited, or CAROL, program, the state Department of Social Services Children and Family Services division and the Santa’s Posse program headed by the Clark County Sheriff’s Office. Those agencies give out the bikes closer to Christmas Day.

“Many times those are children who haven’t had an opportunity to ride a bike, let alone own one,” Campbell said.

The money to purchase the bicycles comes from a few different avenues. Waste Connections matches employee donations and solicits donations from business partners, vendors and people in the community.

“This event has gotten so huge we couldn’t do it without the help of the community,” Campbell said.

It started with just Waste Connections employees putting together about 100 bikes. Now, the event involves hundreds of volunteers, including bike mechanics who make sure every bike is put together correctly and safely.

“It seems like it’s more and more each year,” said Ed Fischer of Camas Bike and Sport while tuning up a bike. He didn’t mind carpooling through the snow to get to the event, which he’s been attending for five years.

“This is one of the coolest things I do at Christmas,” said volunteer Eric Husemoen.

“This has been a fun thing to do,” said Richard Dietrich, who was assembling tricycles. “It’s amazing how quickly it goes.”

Dietrich, owner of Dietrich Trucking, said he usually has more of his employees at the bike build but some of them were dealing with the weather in the Columbia River Gorge.

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Columbian Social Services, Demographics, Faith