From students to staff: Brittany & Omar's stories

In June 1995, Community Bike Works held its first Earn a Bike class in a small Allentown storefront. In 30 years, we have grown from 60 kids in Earn a Bike each year to more than 600, with a majority continuing in our cycling, mentoring, and leadership programs.

To kick off our celebration of 30 years of Earn a Bike, we share with you the stories of Brittany and Omar. Each has been at Bike Works for 10 years, first as students and now as key members of our staff.

Brittany

My partner Kyle went through Earn a Bike when he was 9 or 10. When we met, he said that it would be a very good place for us to be together. He was bugging me for years and then I was like fine, I’ll do it, I want a bike. In the summer of 2014 I earned my bike.

The first time I walked into Bike Works, I remember seeing the giant tool boards and all of the tools on them. Since I’m really afraid of trying new things, first walking in there, seeing all of the random people really scared me. But everyone was so nice – staff, apprentices, and students. I was super shy at first; I don’t remember speaking a single word on my first day of class. Volunteers Bob and Barry both helped me get out of my shell. I would always ask James to put me in a group with them when I started volunteering here.

Today I am the Junior Earn a Bike instructor and I also run summer Earn a Book. I’ve been teaching JrEAB since it started in 2015. My all-time favorite part is teaching kids who don’t know how to ride, to ride a 2-wheel bike. I absolutely love to see the excitement on their face when they realize that they are doing it all by themselves and I am no longer helping them. I’ve taught over 200 kids how to ride! I just really like getting to know all of the students, learning who they are and what they are like. I also enjoy getting repeat students; they act like my little helpers during class.

A great, big, proud thing for me is that it started with Kyle pulling me into this program, then me being here, then bringing our son into this program. When Caiden did his first Junior class, he was younger than everyone else and he did not know how to ride a bike. Youth Apprentice Edwin and I worked with Caiden to get him to practice, and we had him stop and watch the other students who were scared to ride just like him. Finally he got on those pedals and he learned, and it was just a BIG moment. I remember everybody in the class stopped what they were doing and they were screaming and cheering for him. Now, he’s been through the classes enough that he is like a mini teacher. Caiden already wants to be a part of Earn a Bike. I can see him being at Bike Works for a long time.

I am at Bike Works 11 years this summer. When I was in Youth Leadership, Bob taught us how to write resumes, how to do interviews. When I was struggling in college math, Kim had a tutor come in to help me make it through 2 semesters. Without the tutor, I probably wouldn’t have made it through those classes. I now have an Associate’s in Arts, a Bachelor’s in Science, and my teaching license. I was one of the first students to receive a Bike Works scholarship to help with college, and I continued to receive scholarship funds each year. Bike Works means everything to me. I don’t want to leave it, but I know I am going to have to move on eventually. I finally have my teaching license, and I want to be a kindergarten teacher and have my own classroom, but I definitely want to come back in the summers and help with Junior Earn a Bike and Earn a Book.

Omar

I found Bike Works through my older brother Eric. When the older sibling wants to do something, the younger sibling has to tag along. Eric was 13 and I was 11.

The first time I walked into Bike Works, I felt a little star-stuck. As a family, we didn’t take too many trips, so it was amazing to see something new. All the tools caught my eye. I was working with my dad as an assistant at his mechanic shop, so I already had an inclination for the tools and for getting dirty. In Earn a Bike, I was also learning new things, like how to change a tire. I am a hands-on learner; if you show me how to do something, I can do it. I remember my first Earn a Bike graduation. It was summer and we went to Waldheim Park to have a big celebration, which was a great time.

Bike Works was the constant in my life. From my first Earn a Bike class, there wasn’t a time when I was younger when I wasn’t doing something Bike Works-related. The Velodrome, the other rides we went on, all of that molded me into wanting to be more adventurous and outdoorsy. Having a bike and being at Bike Works allowed me to have the freedom I wanted.

Bike Works helped me be a better person and stay on track. I remember looking up to older kids. I saw the Youth Leaders take initiative to get their lives in order and plan for the future. I knew as I got older that Bike Works was a place where people could help me decide what I wanted to do. I was taking a biology class at the community college, and Bike Works helped me pay for the books. Bike Works has been like a pillar to hold me up.

After COVID, I thought, 'I have to get back to Bike Works. I don’t need a bike, but I want to be here because it makes me happy.’ That’s when I started volunteering. When I was hired as a staff member, I was doing exactly what others have done before me. Just having my own Earn a Bike group, saying ‘Yep, that’s how you do it’—that felt fulfilling. I love when kids say they can’t ride a bike, and then by the end of the class they can. Seeing the expression of joy on a kid’s face at that eureka moment, it fills me with a sense of pride.

My responsibilities have increased to where I am needed in a lot of programs. I moved from Franklin Park to Keck Park to help with our food pantry, and I still teach Earn a Bike and Junior Earn a Bike. As a staff member who can speak Spanish, I am pulled a lot in different directions. It’s nice to know I have a place here. I am a puzzle piece that fits into the picture of Bike Works. My shape is ever-changing, for what is needed.

When I hear of Bike Works turning 30, I am taken aback by the longevity. It is a testament to how strongly we are attached to the community that we have been able to last 30 years. For myself, Bike Works has touched my heart and soul, and I know for a fact we have done that for so many kids. And it is sort of unfathomable that we have been able to keep it going for so long, and hopefully for another 30 years. Community Bike Works is a place of growth, especially for kids who are unsure of their future goals. That is the main reason I am working here. I want kids to feel that same sense of star-struckness that I did, and have that same guidance.

Omar and Brittany are two of the 8,500 Lehigh Valley youth who have been impacted by Community Bike Works since the very first Earn a Bike class in June 1995. Like Omar and Brittany, most students came for the bike, and stayed to belong, learn, and grow.

In these turbulent times, providing young people with the opportunity to be a part of—and help build— a true community matters more than ever, and so does your support. With your help, a new generation of youth can step into one of our bike hubs for the first time and begin their Bike Works journeys. Can you help us reach our goals and invest in Lehigh Valley youth?