Anchorage Daily News

While Martin Luther King Jr. Day was just a break from work for many Anchorage residents, a couple hundred adults spent the afternoon serving others.

Their project: 50 Bikes/50 Kids at Spenard Recreation Center. After four hours of installing wheels, attaching pedals, adjusting brakes and syncing gears, 50 kids ages 6 to 17 got new bikes and about 250 adults got an opportunity to do a good thing.

Their effort was part of the growing movement to honor King through a day of community service expected to involve a half million Americans and 5,000 projects nationwide on Monday.

The movement is grounded in King's 1957 speech "The Birth of a New Nation," in which he said "The aftermath of nonviolence is the creation of the beloved community."

In recent years, Anchorage Parks & Recreation celebrated King's vision by offering a slew of activities and smaller service projects at the city's recreation centers. Former Parks & Rec employee Jamie Acton persuaded them to put all their bikes in one basket this year.

"The project really speaks to the core values of Anchorage Parks and Rec, and the whole MLK Day of service -- make it a day on, not a day off," she said. "And it's more than just a bike -- it's transportation, it's independence. For some of these kids, this is the first thing that will be just theirs."

By noon Monday, Spenard Recreation Center gym was mobbed with teams of adult mentors and youths in blue T-shirts, all focused on the finer points of bike building and ownership.

Each team of two to five mentors and one youth passed through five work stations, unpacking $15,000 worth of Trek bicycles, assembling the bikes and completing a final safety check.

"It's like a pit-stop crew in there," said Tusa Tanuvasa, 14, while waiting in the hallway for his turn. The East High freshman was looking forward to having wheels to get himself to school, and the knowledge to fix his own bike.

REI bike technician Josiah Freeman walked youths through adjusting rear brake cables and gears at Station 3 -- times 50.

"It's pretty cool getting a lot of kids out to honor the day of service," Freeman said.

Many of the mentors were barely older than the kids getting bikes.

"We're just going to hang out with the kids and be mentors," said Craig Miller, whose team included Mennonite Service Adventure program members Matt Thomas and Mary Simmering, both 19.

"I view it as a way to get kids excited about cycling," said avid biker Mark Olson, a geologist for Conoco Phillips. "Having to put them together gives the kids ownership. And adults can see how volunteering is directly impacting kids."

Olson wasn't the only bike enthusiast in the building.

"It's like a comics convention -- don't show up unless you're a geeky bike guy," joked ACS team member Brian Cole.

Some of the teams anted up the $300 to purchase a bicycle, helmet, lock and kick stand for a child.

"We got a real mix," said Nancy Beardsley, volunteer coordinator for Parks and Recreation. "Even a funeral home bought one."

Alyeska Resort owner John Byrne donated funds for 42 bikes, and has pledged to donate 25 bikes for each of the next two years, Beardsley said.

Social service agencies, schools and community organizations nominated kids to receive bikes based on their trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship.

Jenney Yousey, program coordinator for Boys & Girls Club, followed club regular Juanya Walker, 11, around as he helped together put the first bike he ever owned.

"He's very respectful to the staff and other members at the club. That's why I nominated him."

Fiti Manu, 12, used to have a bicycle. But she had to put it in storage when her family moved here last summer.

"I learned how to install brakes," she said. "They told me all the stuff about the bike, what to do if something happens to it. And I love the color -- blue is my favorite."

The kids will get a chance to give back to the community May 3, during national Join Hands Day, by staging a bike rodeo for elementary-age children at Spenard Recreation Center.

Find Rose Cox online at adn.com/contact/rcox or call 257-4469.

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