July 31, 2008
By Heidi Robinson

HIGH POINT, N.C. – A tangle of bikes in various stages of readiness await their turn as volunteers apply chain grease, adjust rear hub shifting, tighten spokes and examine brake pads and cables.

"Do we have clippers?" asks Emily Fox, a college student in Greensboro. "Maybe that will be our next donation."

The scene is neither that of a bike store or a repair shop. On Saturday mornings in the summer, Ward Street United Methodist Church becomes a first-aid station for bikes – a place where High Point children can trade their broken bikes for newly repaired ones, then saddle up for supervised neighborhood rides.

"I'm so glad they fix bikes here," says 13-year-old Chance Maness. "I've got a broken pedal."

Chance, his 11-year-old brother, Tyler, and their mother, Teresa, are new to the neighborhood and Ward Street. They will all go on the bike ride after everyone is outfitted with helmets and bicycles.

"It is good family time," says Teresa, a leasing agent. "I want my sons to be closer."

Building a sense of community

Supporters say the bike rides do more than provide opportunities for physical exercise. They build a sense of community in a neighborhood tucked behind abandoned industrial buildings, where 90 percent of the homes are rentals.

"Before we began the bike ministry four years ago, we noticed an alarming trend among the young people in the neighborhood," says the Rev. Sonny Reavis, pastor of the urban church. "There were 16 different nationalities represented here then. There may be more than that now."

"Pastor Sonny," as the children call him, noticed that young people were beginning to organize themselves into gangs based on ethnic origins.

"They would scream at each other and throw rocks," says Reavis. "And, once we got them together and riding together and fixing bikes together, suddenly, they were calling each by name instead of calling each other names."

The pastor recalls how the youngsters fought over bikes in the beginning.

"To look back and see how God used this ministry, you have to say, ‘Wow, God has done some great things here,'" Reavis says. "This bike ministry helps these kids reclaim their neighborhood. For them, a bike means everything is possible and they are no longer locked in one place."

The ministry is having a ripple effect in revitalizing the neighborhood.

At one time, for instance, the house across the street from the church was a site for drug users. Now, the land has been deeded over to the church, where leaders say they will renovate and use the house to help people struggling with substance abuse.

Donated bikes

All bikes are donated and most pass through the hands of volunteers, including a car mechanic, church members and members of a Boy Scout troop at First United Methodist Church of High Point. A local Schwinn bike shop offers parts at cost, and bikes that are beyond repair are sold for scrap metal.

"Having a bike helps a kid grow up," explains eagle scout Spirrows Nixon, 17, as he repairs a tire. "It helps someone learn responsibility and to take care of things. Biking brings the community together."

Retiree Bonnie Horney agrees. She chaperones the bike rides and is volunteer youth coordinator at Ward Street.

"We are here to build relationships with the children and families in this neighborhood," says Horney, 58. "This Saturday bike ride has become an appointment for many of these children."

The church reaps the rewards of those relationships. Some children who started in the bike program four years ago now help lead music during Sunday morning worship services.

Ready to ride

"Anthony, where is your helmet?" asks Reavis before the first ride of the summer.

About a dozen children and four adult volunteers set off on a mapped course that winds around empty manufacturing buildings and along deserted service roads that once were home to drug dealers.

"We are reclaiming this area for health and wellness," says Reavis. "God gave us broken bicycles and a broken community, and He has given us the opportunity to be a part of putting them back together."

United Methodist News Service
Heidi Robinson is a freelance writer and producer in Winston-Salem, N.C.