Rolling Along in a Baltimore Neighborhood

Playworks Coaches Help Build Healthy Communities
Here's a great story from one of our amazing Playworks coaches...

"I live close to my school and ride my bike to work. All the kids think its funny that when I have a car I still ride a bike. But after two years, I'm pretty well known in this neighborhood; there aren't a lot of other guys who look like me that ride through here that often.

The other day I was riding home after school and I got chased down by a fourth grader named Kevin. He said he needed help fixing his bike. I followed him around the corner to his bike, which was upside down in front of his house. I told him to get his mom, who I knew from school, and she came out and said it was okay for me to help. Soon enough, it was me, his mom, his cousin, and about 5 kids from our school all working together to fix the bike.

Thaiji ran around the corner to get a bike pump from his dad. Breyonna helped me take the wheel off. Kevin's mom helped find the holes in the tube. And Kevin's cousin, who admitted that at first he was real skeptical of what I was doing on his block, helped me patch the hole in the tube and put the wheel back on. Then I rode on home, feeling good about the opportunities that Playworks gives me to make a difference in the community."