MARICOPA, AZ — Leatrice Smiley finds herself smiling a lot lately.
“Every day when I come home there’s at least five or ten more,” said Smiley
Bikes of all colors and sizes fill her garage and backyard, and it all began with a post on Facebook.
“I made the first post just kind of ranting as an angry parent that somebody stole my daughter's bike from the school. like...who steals from an elementary school, who steals from kids?” said Smiley.
She says on August 31, her 13-year-old daughter Zaniyah had her locked bike stolen right off the bike rack outside Leading Edge Academy in Maricopa.
“I was really hoping someone would see the post and put it back and all's fair, but it didn’t happen,” she said.
What did happen was even better, with folks from all over the community offering to donate her daughter a new one and even take her to the store to get one off the rack.
That’s when Smiley says she got an idea.
“I thought, let’s turn this into something better,” said Smiley. “We could really make this big for everybody because we’re blessed and we’re fortunate enough to be in a situation where we didn’t need anyone to help us get a bike even though the offer was amazing.”
She decided to post again after being inspired by the outpouring of kindness.
Asking them instead to help her start a small bike drive.
“Our very first day of collecting bikes, we were scheduled to pick up five....we got 17,” said Smiley in disbelief.
Now it’s over 100 and soon they’ll all find a good home.
“We reached out to all of the elementary and middle schools here in Maricopa to see if they can identify kids who walk home from school who don’t have access to bikes,” she said. “They’ve already collected a number of names.”
Now not every bike is ready to roll out the door. Some of them are in need of a little TLC in the form of new tires and tubes, grips, and brakes — and neighbor and retired police officer Frank Shaw is on the case.
“When I was a police officer in Washington, I was on a bike patrol and I did all the basic maintenance, actually almost advanced basic maintenance, in our patrol unit for probably ten years,” said Shaw. “So, I saw the post and texted Leatrice and said if you need repairs, I’m ready to help.”
Shaw has been putting his skills to work, transforming run-down or aging bikes one by one.
“I could not believe how many bikes she was able to collect so quickly, it was like holy moly,” said Shaw. “She could have just dwelled on the theft but instead she’s turned this whole situation into a positive and the whole community is behind her.”
The fire department has since donated helmets, and T-Mobile donated headlamps.
It's a true community-wide effort that’s left this mom in awe.
“It’s been beautiful and thank you to everybody,” said Smiley.
Fixing the bikes does have a bit of a cost. Many of the bikes need new parts. Smiley has started a GoFundMe page to help pay to get these bikes back in shape and in the hands of our kids.