When LaNisha Clark joined Freewheelin’ Community Bikes as Executive Director last year, one of the first things she noticed in the facility was a loaf of bread and jar of peanut butter on the counter by the bathroom, set aside in case kids got hungry during the after-school program.
“That’s not going to cut it,” she thought.
With an extensive background in nonprofit management and youth development work, she knew it was important to provide meals at their programs – and more than just peanut butter sandwiches.
“We are going to feed these kids,” Clark remembers thinking. “I wasn’t sure how, but I knew we needed to find a way to provide food.”
She called several local agencies, but none were able to provide food support. She planned to reach out to neighboring businesses and organizations to ask for donations, when she thought of Second Helpings.
She had previously volunteered at Second Helpings with her church and thought it might be worth a call.
“Patty [Cortellini, Director of Agency Relations] immediately helped us work through all the details to qualify as a partner agency and got us meals right away.”
Since becoming a partner agency in March 2021, Second Helpings has provided more than 1,000 meals and an additional 550+ pounds of food to Freewheelin’ Community Bikes, located in the Mapleton-Fall Creek neighborhood.
Now the organization can offer a full meal and snacks for every kid that participates in their summer and after-school programs.
“That’s something there would have never been room in our budget to do,” Clark says.
These Second Helpings meals are a critical component of the organization’s programming – all centered around bicycles and accessibility.
“It’s dangerous to send kids with empty bellies out for a long bike ride – and after that ride, those kids are hungry!” Clark says.
Through Freewheelin’ programs, youth from ages 8-18, learn bike safety for riding in the city, take long group rides, and build the bikes that they’ll get to keep at the end of the summer- or semester-long program.
While the kids are hard at work building their bikes, “they don’t have to see our dwindling stockpile of donated snacks and wonder if there will be enough for them tomorrow,” Clark shares. “Second Helpings gives the organization, our kids, and their families, peace of mind knowing that there will always be food here.”
When a mom recently dropped off her kids and told Clark that she didn’t have the $25 to pay for them to participate that week because of a car payment, in part because of those Second Helpings meals – prepared by volunteers and supported by donors – Clark didn’t have to turn the kids away, and she knew they would get to eat that day.
Because of your support of Second Helpings, kids get to be kids. They get to enjoy a day riding bikes, stay safe, and have a snack and tasty, healthy meal, because you cared. Thank you.