SYRACUSE — For over 20 years, local families have flocked to Fowler High School to pick out thousands of bicycles collected, repaired and donated by the Central New York Family Bicycle Giveaway Foundation.
While the giveaway itself has received much press over the years, behind the scenes are numerous Baldwinsville residents who offer their tools, trucks and time to the effort.
“Barbra Streisand’s song goes, ‘People … need people,’ and that’s so true,” said Will DeSain, one of the B’ville residents who coordinates the giveaway.
Founded by Syracuse funeral director Jan Maloff, the CNY Family Bike Giveaway collects bicycles in various conditions and rehabs them to give to Central New Yorkers in need, mostly in the city of Syracuse. The Syracuse Teachers Association and Syracuse Police Department help identify families who could benefit from the giveaway. The foundation also turns around tricycles and scooters.
“We have something for everybody,” DeSain said.
While most of the recipients are children, the CNY Family Bike Giveaway can match adults with bicycles, too. In 2018, Liverpool resident Michael Parrish had his bike stolen from outside Nichols Supermarket. The Liverpool Police Department contacted Maloff and within a week, Parrish had a new set of wheels.
DeSain, who owns an insurance agency at Moyers Corners, is in charge of the giveaway’s stable of volunteers.
“What I like is they work together. Anything I ask of them, they’ll do,” DeSain said.
Among DeSain’s 40-member squad are Mary Ann Meeker, who lends her pickup truck to corral donated bikes, as well as Jim Adsit, Mary Lou Adsit, Bob Rendino, Carl Hibbard and Marc Casson. The group helps repair bicycles each fall at the New York State Fairgrounds.
“It’s awesome to give back to the kids,” Casson told the Messenger in 2014. “Everybody has a good attitude. Everybody works together. It’s calm, it’s fun. We have some laughs that make the time go by.”
While the “goodness of Baldwinsville” has helped thousands of kids receive bikes over the years, Rendino said DeSain has been key to bringing volunteers to the giveaway.
“If it weren’t for Will, we wouldn’t be doing it because we wouldn’t know about it,” Rendino said in 2014. “He may be humble, but he does all the work.”
Local businesses have pitched in to help as well. Driver’s Village in Cicero and Timber Tree Service in Baldwinsville have offered storage space for the giveaway. Right now, the foundation has 700 bikes in storage waiting to be repaired.
Over the years — and thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic — the cost of tuning up each bike has skyrocketed.
“As COVID has taken over our world, it did not detour our program from giving away bicycles. It did however hit us hard financially,” Maloff wrote in an email to a supporter of the foundation, which DeSain shared with the Messenger. “For instance, the price [of] bicycle tubes went from $2.50 up to $7.50, the same with bicycle tires, brake cables and shifting cables.”
With the cost of parts continuing to climb, the CNY Family Bike Giveaway is in need of monetary donations. If you are able to help, you can mail a check to the Central New York Family Bicycle Giveaway Foundation, c/o DeSain Insurance, 8398 Oswego Road, Liverpool, NY 13090.
To learn more about the giveaway, visit cnyfamilybike.org.
