Kids do hard yards for bikes

By Monique Ebrington
MILLWARRA Primary School students are fed up with their bikes being stolen, pulled apart or dumped in waterways by heartless thieves and vandals.
Each term a group of students, from the Millgrove campus, choose a second-hand bike each to completely strip down, sand, respray and then rebuild.
Millwarra primary student welfare teacher Laureen Knight said many of the students would have their newly built bikes for no more than two weeks before they were damaged or destroyed.
“It’s grievous. Some of the students come back to school with their bike tyres slashed, others find their bikes completely in pieces,” Ms Knight said. “It’s sad because we know how much time, equipment and money – and money doesn’t come easy – has gone into rebuilding the bikes.”
Grade 5 student Jye said he was ‘annoyed’ when his bike was stolen just two weeks after he finished rebuilding it.
“I would ride it to school, back home and around my street,” Jye said. “Some people up the road stole it, stripped it and I found just the frame in a bush. I was pretty upset because they were people who I thought were my friends.”
Glen Waverley retiree Gordon Smith has volunteered his time each Thursday morning, for the past 18 months, to run the program.
He is also responsible for scouring hard rubbish and contributing many of the second-hand bikes and parts for the program that are stored in a makeshift shed, that used to be the boys toilets,”
Mr Smith said the students take great pride in building their own bikes and that it was disheartening to see their work ruined.
“I just love seeing them learning and it’s a good experience for them to be able to build their own bike and know how to fix it if it breaks,” Mr Smith said.
“They put a lot of hard work and effort into this project. For them to then get their bikes damaged puts them down a bit. We try to build their self-esteem and to do that just puts them back a bit. It’s not good.”
Ms Knight said the teachers saw how excited the students were when they completed their bikes and wanted to continue the program.
She said community assistance could help prevent the number of student-made bikes that were being vandalised or stolen.
“We would love it if all the kids had easy access to bike locks but such good quality products are outside the reach, or consideration, of many people in this area,” she said. “I would like the community to be more vigilant in taking note of what their kids are doing and asking questions to find out where they may have obtained a mysterious new bike.”
She said the school was always appreciative of donations and in need of second hand bikes, pedals, spare parts and 20-inch back wheels.
To make a donation to the Millwarra school’s student project, to build a bike, phone the Millgrove campus on 5966 2518.