During a weekend in December, members of the Manchester United Methodist Church (Manchester UMC) donate different gifts to charities and organizations around the St. Louis area to help those in need. This weekend, called Gifts in White, is meant to encourage people to get away from decorating presents with fancy materials and, instead, give these organizations and charities reusable white wrapping paper and bags for other presents and uses throughout the upcoming year. 

Twenty years ago, a group of friends decided to save their extra change in a coffee tin in order to buy a bike for Gifts in White. From this, the Manchester UMC Bike Rehab was born. 

“I was a part of five couples that helped cook breakfast once a month for new members. One of the ladies said ‘Let’s put a can up and save our change so we can buy a bike for Christmastime for our White Gift program.’ Two months later, [it became] ‘can we collect some bikes to fix them up and give them to Kindom House, which is now called LifeWise,” Jim Vail, one of the founders of the Manchester UMC Bike Rehab, said. 

Manchester UMC Bike Rehab has steadily grown its bike donations since it started years ago.

“We worked up out of somebody’s backyard and their garage. The first year we donated 60 bikes. These past three years, we’ve exceeded 750 per year. Just before Christmas, we had collectively given about 8,000 bikes to charity since the start,” Vail said. 

Students at Lafayette have been participating in Manchester UMC Bike Rehab since it began. Last year, the organization opened up to allow Marquette High School students to also attend after the organization expanded to utilize a full house. 

“Our weekend sessions started back when [the rehab] was still repairing bikes out of a garage. As they were collecting more and more bikes, they thought if they had a weekend session four times a year in Fellowship Hall, they could invite the community to come out and help [them] to meet the demand for Kingdom House,” Mary Corwin, a lead volunteer, said. “Jim Vail was an industrial teacher at Lafayette, so with his connection to Lafayette, Lafayette students for years and years were the only students who came out to help us on these weekends. With the increased area, we were able to open up to Monday nights and open up to students from Lafayette and Marquette.”

Senior Caitlynn Sigman has been coming to the worknights at the rehab center or the past two years through the National Honors Society (NHS). 

“I came last year and it was a lot of fun. We got a lot done, and I like the fun environment and how productive we are down here. The environment is just really cool and everyone’s working toward this goal, which is awesome,” Sigman said. 

Siena Meyrer, senior, has just started to attend the bike rehab worknights through NHS. 

“I really like cleaning the bikes because it’s therapeutic. It’s an easy way to earn hours [for NHS],” Meyrer said. “I really like the ending because you can see all the hard work you put in and bring it over because everyone gets so excited with you. It’s only my second time here, but I want to keep coming back as long as it’s offered.”