This Christmas holiday, hundreds of children in Multnomah, Clackamas and Columbia Counties will be receiving brand new bikes and helmets, courtesy of Arrow Sanitary Service in Northeast Portland and Hudson Garbage Service in Saint Helens. Employees at Arrow Sanitary and Hudson Garbage (parent company Waste Connections) spent the past month fundraising, buying, assembling and delivering the bikes to various locations within the communities where the need is greatest.
“Our company looks forward to the bike build every year. The past few years have been challenging because of the pandemic. This year, we were excited to gather in-person to assemble more than a hundred bikes and then deliver them to the organizations that need them the most,” said Josh Brown, District Manager at Arrow Sanitary Service and Hudson Garbage.
The team at Arrow Sanitary coordinated donation incentives and raised money to purchase 103 bikes and helmets. They were distributed to the organization Play Grow Learn in the Rockwood neighborhood, the Boys and Girls Club, Home Forward and the group Project 48. “Our goal is happy kids. These bikes are going to make a lot of kids happy and quite simply, that’s why we do this. There is nothing better than seeing a smile on a kids face getting a new bike for Christmas, that otherwise likely would not have received one! This time of year is the perfect for us to give back to the communities we have the privilege to serve. Being part of our local communities is a foundation of our organization, and it is incredibly rewarding to have the opportunity to brighten a family’s day on the holidays,” said Brown.
This week, Hudson Garbage gave 103 bikes and helmets to Rainier Giving Tree. Rainier Giving Tree is a non-profit serving Rainier and Clatskanie, OR. Throughout the year, the organization raises money to help families during the holidays. For the seventh year in a row, Hudson Garbage gave 28 bikes and helmets to The Oregon Department of Human Services Child Welfare division in Columbia County.
Donations for the bike build came not only from national and local donors, but Arrow Sanitary and Hudson Garbage employees themselves. Because Waste Connections matched all employee donations, staff members were able to donate even more bikes and helmets to children in the community. The bikes and helmets will be given to children this week and next.