Alex Nunez-Thompson (right in the photo) is a passionate volunteer–a teacher and leader–working for Freewheels Houston. Please read and consider supporting Freewheels Houston.
If you know anything about me, you know bikes are my hobby and passion. Whether it is fixing them, riding them, or ogling them on the internet, bikes are my jam.
What you may not know about is why.
I bought my first bike as seventh grader. It was a black Schwinn Ditch 2.0. The bike became my escape after school, as I listened to music on my iPod and rode around the neighborhood. I rode it to my first job interview at the Arizona Science Center. I rode it to school (on the days I didn’t need my saxophone.) I rode it in the blistering heat of Phoenix summers. Hell, I even wrote about it in the very essay that got me into Rice.
That bike changed my life.
In August, I joined an organization that seeks to give others the same life changing experience of owning a bike. Freewheels Houston is an organization that puts people on two wheels that don’t have any other way of getting around. All of our bikes are donated, repaired with volunteer labor, and then given away to refugees, veterans, and high school students. We have big dreams: to put everyone on two wheels that wants to be there while educating them about maintenance and safe riding along the way.
If you are a rider or a believer in the freedom that comes from reliable transportation consider donating to Freewheels.
- $5 installs front and rear lights
- $12 provides pumps and flat repair kits
- $20 installs a bike lock
- $50 completely refurbishes a bike