Volunteers build bikes at Cranberry Township Community Park for children
CRANBERRY TWP — At 10 a.m. Wednesday, Cranberry Township Community Park’s Jaycees Shelter area was taken up by close to 100 volunteers in teams of five who assembled 200 bicycles at this year’s Build a Bike event.
Each team was in charge of putting together 10 bikes. With their own bike building bag kits, tools and tarps, teams found their spots in the surrounding grass. At the event, United Way staff, in notable red shirts, was present for assistance. Also at the venue were “bike safety experts” in light blue shirts.
“We don't want any children driving on the road and the wheels coming off,” said Sara Noel, the organization’s senior director of strategic impact.
Experts not only offered technical assistance, but were tasked with reviewing the bikes before they were packaged along with a helmet and a lock.
From checking pedals to handlebars, ensuring safety is a top priority, said Wendy Knoch, senior director of regional engagement.
Volunteers, once finished building the bikes, were asked to bring them over to the staging area with instructions attached to the bike.
The bikes were built to be distributed among 30 agencies across a region covering five counties: Allegheny, Armstrong, Butler, Fayette and Westmoreland.
Representatives from those agencies were slated to pick up the bikes between noon and 2 p.m. along the outside parking lot. The agencies will subsequently distribute those bikes to children, said Jesse Sprajcar, senior director of regional impact at United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania.
Agencies from Butler County included Community Care Connections, Moniteau School District, Butler Area School District, Glade Run Lutheran Services, Rose E. Schneider Family YMCA, the Lighthouse Foundation and Slippery Rock Area School District.
Organized by United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania, Wednesday’s event was the 12th time the volunteering event was held and the first day of the three-day event. Build A Bike events are also scheduled on Thursday and Friday, June 18 and 19, in Westmoreland and Allegheny counties. Six-hundred bicycles are set to be built in 2026.
“At the end of this event, we will have distributed over 3,300 bikes since the start of Build a Bike in 2014,” said Noel.
The purpose of the event was to support families who can’t afford bikes for their children and to bring back “some of that joy of riding a bike that a lot of us had whenever we were younger,” said Sprajcar.
One volunteer, Neil Ashbaugh, said that while he had heard about the initiative in the past, Wednesday’s outing was his first time at the Build a Bike event.
“I'm looking forward to building the bikes,” Ashabugh, a resident of Center Township, said before the event started. “I just want people to realize they can volunteer in the community. They can give back to a very worthy cause.”
Sprajcar said Build a Bike is a “unique way for us to give back to the community and provide some joy for the kids over the summer.”
He added there is no better feeling for him than when he comes across one of the bikes that he helped build.
Sprajcar said in addition to getting kids to go out and get away from screens during the summer, the fitness aspect of bicycles is no less important.
He added the response from volunteers and agency partners has been positive too. Throughout the morning, volunteers are excited, said Sprajcar.
“This (event) is really hands-on in team building for them as well,” said Sprajcar. “It's really great to see that.”
Beyond impact to the community, Ashbaugh said the volunteering event is a prime networking opportunity for meeting other volunteers across other participating companies.
“Just having that time to work and get to know people better makes the community stronger,” said Ashbaugh.
