Featured Volunteer: Sam Clingman and Dad

Sam's the man! Meet Sam Clingman of Frederick Maryland, our featured volunteer this month. Sam is the guy who kept all the volunteers in line this past month up at that monumental collection with the Rotary Club of Carroll Creek.

And when we say monumental, we mean it! This Rotarian effort brought over 900 bikes into our warehouse over the past year. Actually, that's not even true. Led by Rotarians Norm Birzer and Richard Foot, this bike collection took place over the past year and bikes were stored in an Adamstown barn as they were collected. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of them.

And when we realized how many bikes they had on hand we had a genius idea. We decided to bring our container directly into their collection site at Triangle Motors in Frederick. And from there we would simply roll the bikes in from the collection to our shipment, eliminating the need to transport them to our warehouse in Rockville.

And Sam's the guy who kept us all on track. Seriously, while many volunteers were occupied loading the container in the rain, Sam managed the group of volunteers prepping bikes on the side and getting them to the loading crew in time for the next row of bikes. No short task; the Rotary Club of Carroll Creek ALSO collected over 100 bikes just that ONE day.

And Sam is no rookie when it comes to loading either. This is actually his second container loading with us in less than a month.

We only just met Sam personally back on April 8th during our warehouse warming party. Sam came down with his dad, Tom, to accept our 1k Club award on behalf of the Rotary Club of Carroll Creek. In case anyone is counting (and we know they are) they are now over 3,000 bikes! Stay tuned, we expect to be creating a 5k Club any day now.

Tom Clingman is a recent member of the Rotary Club of Carroll Creek after moving here from North Carolina. Getting involved with the Rotarians here really helped them settle into the community quickly and to feel welcomed.

"Working with Bikes for the World has been the best thing that has happened for Sam since we moved to Maryland in 2015. Norm did a great job teaching Sam to work on bikes and making him feel valued for his efforts. The recent volunteer opportunities and the connections he has made with other people has been so positive for him!" reports Dad.

It goes without saying this father-son team has been great for us too! Tom is the Chief Development Officer at the YMCA of Frederick County and he was quick to get the Y involved in the effort. In addition to helping collect and pick up bikes throughout the year, Tom recruited members of the Y Leaders Club to help before and during the collection. Some of them worked side by side with Sam to keep that bike processing line moving during a busy Saturday!