“I want to give my bike to someone else who can use it,” Oliver Davidson recalled a 9-year-old boy telling him.
Davidson, of Chevy Chase Village, knew exactly where to turn. He contacted Manuel Vera of Silver Spring, who tuned the boy’s bike up and donated to someone who never had a bike before.
For the past two-and-a-half years, Vera, 73, has been washing, degreasing, filling up the tires and making any necessary repairs to 480 bicycles. They have all been donated, at first to residents in the Silver Spring area and now mostly to Afghani refugees.
Manuel Vera, of Silver Spring, spent his isolated days during the pandemic repairing no longer used bicycles from neighbors. Word got around, and bicycles began appearing in his driveway and yard as did requests for him to come pick up bikes.
Then the Afghan government fell, and refugees began coming to Montgomery and Prince George’s counties. Vera made sure they received his fixed-up bicycles to get to work and shopping and to give to their children.
Vera recalled one Afghani father who worked a 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. shift. The closest bus ran hourly at night, so he often had to wait almost an hour for a ride home.
Vera, who calls his business Freewheeling Bike Tune-Ups, gave the very grateful man a bike, reflective vest and lights.
Expenses incurred by the Lima, Peru native are covered by donors.
Vera retired four years ago from Pepco Holdings Inc., where he managed energy efficiency programs for commercial customers.
