May The Fourth Be With You

It’s another exciting moment for MVMNT. Spring activity is rolling, and we’ve already been out on a hike, a bike ride, and a climbing trip! In past years, we’ve battled cold, rainy conditions, but our trips this year have lined up with beautiful weather, giving us the opportunity to enjoy some warm, sunny days.

Our trips, as always, conclude with a family dinner back at the MVMNT office. These meals allow us to get to know the kids better, hear their stories, and remind them that they are valued and cared for. We’ve even been able to celebrate a birthday or two together!

Especially exciting this year: we secured the funds to purchase several brand-new, high-quality mountain bikes for our program. These will replace several older models and help ensure that kids have a great first experience with mountain biking. Being on a fully functional, capable bike makes all the difference, and we’re thrilled to offer that to our students.

This addition has also created a neat opportunity for us to support the community. Our older bikes have seen a lot of love, but they are still functional—especially for riding around town or on the rail trail. As a result, we’ve been able to set up five students with long-term bike loans for the year. We hope to expand this program as we fix up more bikes and identify other students who may benefit. So far, we’ve helped two students who needed transportation around town, one whose previous bike was stolen, one who was riding a bike with no brakes or gears, and another who wanted the opportunity to exercise on his own.

Over the years, I’ve dreamt about what our bike program might look like. It has been one of our more difficult goals to achieve for a number of reasons. For one, we encounter a wide disparity of ability levels on our trips. This makes it tough to keep experienced bikers engaged without overwhelming those who are just learning. Our awesome crew of adult leaders has helped us solve this; we are now able to split students into two or three groups based on experience level, adjusting the ride to be a good fit for everyone.

Running a bike program is also challenging because it is expensive and labor-intensive. When we started MVMNT, we applied for funding for a new fleet but were initially unsuccessful. Instead, we purchased several used bikes from a local summer camp. They were well-used, but they got our program rolling and served us well. The downside was the constant maintenance: fixing wheel hubs, gears, and corroded cables, or dealing with dropping chains and stuck suspensions. Between those mechanical challenges and the headache of transporting and storing a fleet for students of all sizes, it’s easy to understand why there aren’t many programs like this in the area.

It’s my hope that as MVMNT builds this high-quality program, we’ll be able to share it with the community in even greater ways. New bikes allow us to lead trips without significant post-trip maintenance and enable us to share our older bikes with students in need. Ultimately, this program has taught us how to be patient, resilient, and committed to a dream.

Huge thanks to our major funding partners: the Wheeler Family Charitable Trust, The 1889 Foundation, Berkebile Oil, North Star Youth Outreach, and many other generous contributors. Your generosity enabled this purchase and allowed us to build a bike shop capable of keeping our fleet rolling and serving students who need a tune-up to stay safe on the road.

We are now in the final weeks of the school year. We’re excited to host our year-end senior send-off and picnic, with at least one more bike trip planned before then. After that, we’ll transition to "summer lunch mode," where our office will be filled with student workers preparing meals for delivery across the county. Last year, we served 83,000 grab-and-go meals from our little office with the help of teen workers and volunteer drivers. We’ll deliver to the same sites this year and expect to serve even more folks as we strive to ease the grocery burden for families.

I’ve been thinking lately about what motivates us and so many other fantastic organizations in our area. While I can’t speak for everyone, I can speak for us: it’s love. We love these kids, we love where we live, and we want to see people thrive.

In my last update, I referenced Mr. Rogers and his call to reflect on the people who “loved us into being.” That thought returns to me now as I think about the ripple effect of a single expression of care. I hope that as families receive meals and students receive bikes, they reflect on the love that motivated us to serve.

I hope that as you read this, you’re given an opportunity to reflect on those who loved you and think of the ways you are loving others. We need it now more than ever. The great news is that love is just as powerful as it has always been. Perhaps the world feels a little darker or circumstances feel heavier, but a light shines brightest in a dark place.

Thanks for helping us shine a light. I hope you’re inspired to turn the light on in your own life today.

With love and gratitude,

Spencer