Page 36 - BusinessWest May 26, 2020
P. 36

Taking Things to a Higher Gear
The ‘Bike Man’ Continues to Broaden His Mission to Give Back
WBy George O’Brien
hile providing BusinessWest a tour of the facilities that were once home to the makers of
Absorbine Jr., Bob Charland stopped at the top of the stairs leading to the huge basement.
“You want to see what 2,000 bikes looks
“There’s nothing in the stores; I was in a bike shop the other day, and there were maybe four bikes there, and these were the high-end models that sell for a few thousand dollars.”
like ... there you go,” he said, gesturing with his hand toward a room absolutely crammed with bicycles of every color, size, and shape imaginable. “And that’s just a fraction of what we have here.”
Indeed, on the other side of a wall that
divides the basement are probably another 1,000 bikes, he said, adding that more are stored in a facility in Palmer and still more in a trailer. Meanwhile, in other parts of the massive home for the nonprofit known as Pedal Thru Youth, several hundred bikes are in various stages of being ready for delivery to various constituencies, including 200 that are ready for delivery to working homeless individuals in Hartford.
These rooms filled with bikes go a long way toward telling the story of this unique individual known to most as simply “the Bike Man” and the nonprofit he created four years ago. But there is much more to that story as well, as his tour makes clear.
There are also large supplies of clothes for the needy here, as well as backpacks filled with health supplies bound for the homeless, wheelchairs being retrofitted, and bicycles customized for those with spe- cial needs.
There’s also a bedroom that Charland adjourns to when he’s working very late (which happens often) and is simply too tired to drive home — which happens “once
Bike Man
Continued on page 38
Bob Charland
            36 MAY 26, 2021
NONPROFITS
Staff Photo
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