a story from super-intern Michael Gammariello...
Now everyday is totally different and I want to write down my very first day in detail but I will work on that one for next because its gonna be really hard. I am now writing about a Thursday that took place the first week in October and it was beautiful Fall day but I am not sure if it was completely a fall day because the leaves had barely begun changing color. The temperature for the day was in definitely in the 70s and it was ridiculously sunny and it was kind of scary for me reminding me about LA. I got to the shop after amazing ride which got my heart pumping. I was feeling a little heated up and ready to go and did not want to be stuck in the shop for the day. One of the volunteers came up with the idea of doing a scavenger hunt. So I elaborated on that idea by using this bike that was only half ready to be used for the scavenger hunt. The other volunteer, Mohawk, and I stripped more parts off of the frame and started hiding things all around the park. We had to pick out more parts from the used bin that would later be used to put on the bike. Once all the parts were put away which it was total of 13 we started to map out a key that give little clues and directions of where the parts where hidden. So kids start showing up around 3 after they are out of school and I was talking up the scavenger hunt around the shop. Richard, Elvis, Felix and Miguel were all like nahh thats lame, why would we want to do that. I was just like come on lets just do it because it is so nice outside and we can race on our bikes during the scavenger hunt. They finally agreed and we started the hunt around 4. There were teams of two going crazy around the soccer, baseball fields and playgrounds looking for all of these parts. Once all of the parts were found then they all came up to me and John(lead Instructor) and we gave them the key to unlock the frame out of our storage trailer.
At this point is was about 5 and still sunny and beautiful outside. We close at 6 though, so I challenged all the participating kids Richard, Elvis, Felix and Michael to attempt to build up the bike in an hour as a team. To this day I still have not seen better team work then those 4 putting together the Blue Landis Hybrid bicycle. It was like watching a soccer team score an incredible goal during the world cup. I was talking to Colin while the four were working on the bike and we decided that we should sell the bike for 80 dollars and split the money 4 ways for the four of them. When we told them this they took their bike building skills to another level and finished by 6ish...Wow I was amazed that had actually happened all so fast and it was soo awesome to be part of it. The thing that struck me the most was how they were not willing to participate and once they did it actually turned out pretty well. It made everyone feel great in the around the shop and I noticed that rubbed off on other kids and they began to want to have more shop projects to work on.
So when I got home and I was all amped and was just yelling out the story to all the roommates and a couple of others that were in my apartment when I arrived. I was sweaty and tired but the day brought complete joy and this is the reason I joined Phoenix Bikes for something like this to occur. On Friday there was no grand scavenger hunt but was noticeable was that Miguel, Felix, Elvis and Richard all came back that day and stayed till 8 when we closed. Working on their own bikes and shop bikes which made that Friday a rather productive day. They normally do not come on Fridays and honestly have not been dropping by much since. Though, that Thursday I did feel the connection and it was great and it made me happy. I was happy about it in itself and not just the illusion and dream of it but the reality of everything that took place. I want more of these experiences and yes more have come and more will come. This was a day I will not every forget.
