A special blog from CEC’s Income Support Manager, Jere McCully

We saw him coming up the road to our drive thru pantry, on a children’s bike.  He’s been here before, sometimes walking and sometimes on a bike.  The way he loads the food bags on the bike is amazing and he doesn’t drop a single item as he pedals away.

We noticed today that there was no tire on the back wheel, it was bare rim on concrete.  While a volunteer took his information in the drive-thru, I ran back to our warehouse where we keep donations from people and local stores.  I noticed a brand new, really nice adult bike high on the shelving.  We do get bike donations from time to time through partner stores like Target and Walmart and you never know when they will be needed.  This one was way up there so I was going to need help getting it down.

It just so happened that the US National Guard was helping in the CEC Food Pantry today so they reached up and gently lowered the bike.  When the gentleman pedaled to the back of our warehouse to receive his bags of food, one of our long time volunteers asked if he wanted a new bike.  The man was overwhelmed.  “Yes” he replied with a huge smile on his face.  He said “I have one request, can I put this old bike in your dumpster?”  After many kind exchanges of gratitude, he strategically loaded up every inch of his new bike and rode away.

Today, we were able to give way more than food.  We gave more reliable transportation, respect, kindness, encouragement and hope.  You just never know how God will work through you and today, it was through a new Bike.