Featured Volunteer: Becky Copenhaver

This month we are featuring the efforts of Becky Copenhaver who is taking Bikes for the World's mission AND vision and making it happen.

Becky, along with husband Danny, who is just as worthy of mention, live along the coast in North Carolina. They knew of and admired our work at a distance.

But in 2010 Becky wanted to change that. She approached Director Keith Oberg and said, how about we do a collection with the Beta Club at my school? Oh by the way, we are located in North Carolina.

With a little cajoling and a lot of effort on their part, Becky and Danny made this partnership work. And in 2014 they held their third bike collection at Cape Fear Academy.

Bikes for the World has been pushing to expand our operations nationally and although we haven't established a hub in NC, Becky and Danny have been a supporting 'spoke' of our DC hub.

How do they do it? By going the extra miles, literally. BfW supports the collection from afar, but Becky really oversees its success. With the help of the school's Beta Club, Becky and her team of students DO the outreach.

They hand out flyers, give interviews to media, and spread the mission of Bikes for the World. The students know what we are about, what we do, and who we help. And on collection day everyone takes part, collecting and processing the bikes to be donated overseas.

But that's not the end of the day, like it often is here in the DC area.

Let's rewind back to the day before the collection. Becky and Danny actually go pick up a truck rented by BfW to help support the collection. Then they drive to Home Depot and pick up OSB to help stack bikes they collect in the truck. Oh, and they cut the board to fit.

Then, after the collection, they finish loading up the bikes, get in the truck, and drive all the way to Richmond where they meet our Operations Manager Taylor who has taken a bus down there to meet them. It's about a 4 hour drive. After a 4 hour collection. And let's not forget the 4 hour drive home.

We love working with Cape Fear Academy and we love expanding down the coast. With Becky and Danny doing half the driving for us, how could we possibly not do this collection?

Seeing the teamwork among the students alone is worth the effort. But being able to bridge the gap, and in a sense bring the world closer to make it possible for them to reach and affect lives around the globe, is priceless.

And this year, with us donating the next container to Costa Rica where they love beach cruisers...well, let's just say we saw a lot of them unloaded last weekend from this coastal community in NC.