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Gila County has an innovative program that distributes new bicycles to children each December throughout the region.
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Gila County has an innovative program that distributes new bicycles to children each December throughout the region.
The program at the County’s Russell Gulch Landfill is now in its 15th year and features a specialized shop where mechanically skilled Department of Corrections inmates, hired by the county, rebuild recycled bikes.
The Gila County Health Department provides a safety helmet with each bicycle, too.
“It’s heartwarming — it really is,” Gila County Recycling and Landfill Manager Sharon Winters said. “Not just for the kids and their families: Inmates tell us that being able to give back to children in the community is so meaningful for them, especially for inmates who won’t see their families while they’re incarcerated over the holiday season. The bike shop workers are constantly updating a bulletin board with their inventory, always striving to have an equal number of boys’ and girls’ bikes and an equal number of the various sizes.”
Bikes are rebuilt at the Gila County Recycling and Landfill Management site in Globe. The Department of Corrections (DOC) inmate labor refurbishes bikes that have been collected at the landfill, along with the donations of used bikes by the public.
The DOC bike mechanics replace seats, tires, tubes and handgrips to make the bikes better than brand new, with a fresh coat of paint, to the delight of the deserving children that receive them.
Replacement parts are bought by the Gila County Recycling and Landfill Management Department using funds received from recycling efforts. County recycling includes metal, paper, plastic and tires; diversion of oil, batteries and computers, and adds a month each year to the life of our landfills.
The annual bike giveaway is made possible by assistance from the Gila County Board of Supervisors and the Public Works staff, Deputy Warden Samuel Rogers, Lt. Dalmolin and Sargent Penner; and the inmate bike crew from the Department of Corrections. Additional thanks to Shelley Vuksanovich for her artistic talents, and the Sign Department for hauling bikes,” Winters said.
