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 event every year. Both this year and last have certainly been challenging because of the pandemic. We still worked together and managed to get bikes and helmets to the organizations that need them the most. Remember getting your first bike? That’s the kind of feeling we hope to pass along,” said Josh Brown, District Manager at Arrow Sanitary Service and Hudson Garbage.
On Wednesday and for the sixth year in a row, Hudson Garbage gave more than two dozen bikes and helmets to The Oregon Department of Human Services Child Welfare division in Columbia County. That same team also gave 77 bikes and helmets to Rainier Giving Tree on Thursday. 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.
The team at Arrow Sanitary coordinated donation incentives and raised money to purchase 70 bikes and helmets. They were given to the organization Play Grow Learn on Friday, and even Santa made an appearance to help give away the bikes. Located in the Rockwood neighborhood near Gresham, the group is dedicated to healthy opportunities for sheltered and underserved youth in the community. This is the second year in a row that Arrow Sanitary has supported the organization during its annual Bike Build and this will not be the last of its support.
“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. This time of year is the perfect time to give back to the communities we serve,” said Brown. 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.