Featured Volunteer: Nate Murphy

This is Nate. A few months ago we received an email from Nate's mom Sarah. This is not out of the ordinary; we are contacted by many moms looking for volunteer hours for sons and daughters. In this case however, the email came from Sarah's account, which Nate was using to contact us directly.

Nate took the initiative to reach out to us because he wanted to volunteer. But he lived in Virginia, didn't drive, and school commitments hindered making it to our regular Thursday volunteer night. Did we mention he's eleven?

While it's true some of our featured volunteers have been working with us longer than Nate has been alive, we couldn't help but be be inspired by his effort since meeting him last summer. Nate found out about Bikes for the World when he visited with Saint Anne's, where he was taking part in a four day service camp called Mission Possible.

During that visit last summer, Nate participated in a container loading where he had great fun hopping up on second levels with Jonathan to load the dreaded third level of bikes. Nate loved it! When his group switched off midday to prep bikes he swung a wrench a couple times but ended right back in the container loading bikes for Ghana.

His love of container loadings didn't get in the way of lending a hand during a recent collection, however. When the opportunity came up where we needed volunteers on a weekend in Virginia, Nate didn't hesitate to respond. On our opening day last month, Nate came out to the REI Co-Op in Tysons and prepped all the bikes we took in at this location.

This is exactly what we love to see at BfW, young volunteers passionate about returning and helping others around the world. Part of our mission is to engage our community in rewarding service projects with the hope of turning some of our young volunteers into life long volunteers. We hope Nate is well on his way. 

We think Bikes for the World is such a great way for families and people of all ages to help out. And it has such an important mission. We never knew until helping this summer all the ways a bike can help people around the world improve their lives!

I think Bikes for the World is a great opportunity for kids to volunteer, as they have clear understanding of the tangible benefit.

Mom and Dad Murphy