‘I didn’t think anybody would do this for me’: Ankeny man receives new bike from the community
Kenny Randolph thought he was simply becoming a member of his buddies at Bike World the day after Christmas. When he walked in, he began trying out bicycles. Soon after he was taking one out for a experience. When he got here again from that 10-minute experience, he was fairly shocked to seek out the Phat bike he had simply ridden was now his. “I don’t even know where to start,” mentioned Randolph on Saturday. “I didn’t think anybody would do this for me.” Randolph can typically be discovered alongside 2nd Avenue, driving his bike from Ankeny to get to his job at Firestone in Des Moines. He works a 12-hour shift and leaves round an hour earlier than work begins, which implies there’s little or no daylight when he units out. “I commute up 2nd Avenue in the morning and it’s dark. I noticed often that Kenny was riding alongside the road with no helmet and the lights weren’t on,” mentioned Erin Van Dorn, as she stood subsequent to her husband Eric at Bike World on Saturday. “We bike and so we understand safety. It concerned me.” The first time Van Dorn spoke with Randolph was in September. Van Dorn tells KCCI she and her buddies had been in a position to purchase Randolph some protecting gear. In the months after, she and her husband rapidly turned buddies with Randolph. Together, the couple introduced him to Bike World again in November after which once more the day after Christmas. It was by the assist of a GoFundMe that Randolph was gifted his new bike. “I said I’ve never done a GoFundMe, but I’ll give it a try,” mentioned Jeremy Randolph, who organized the GoFundMe that raised almost $1,200. Davis was additionally at Bike World on Saturday when Randolph obtained his new bicycle. Saturday wasn’t the first assembly between the two. “On a day, it was about 104 degrees out. I pulled over and said, ‘Hey man. It’s too hot to be riding your bike out here. You want a ride?'” recalled Davis, reminiscing a couple of time a number of years in the past. Davis says he posted the GoFundMe in an Ankeny Facebook group. People who both keep in mind seeing Randolph driving his bike or knew of him rapidly donated. The remainder of the bicycle’s price was lined by the Bike World group, who knew a Phat bike was the one Randolph wanted. “They’ll float on top of soft surfaces,” defined Bif Ridgeway, Bike World’s gross sales supervisor. “So for someone like Kenny — where he’s riding all year long and the snow that we’re going to get here this week — he’ll be able to ride through anything with that bike.”
Kenny Randolph thought he was simply becoming a member of his buddies at Bike World the day after Christmas. When he walked in, he began trying out bicycles. Soon after he was taking one out for a experience. When he got here again from that 10-minute experience, he was fairly shocked to seek out the Phat bike he had simply ridden was now his.
“I don’t even know where to start,” mentioned Randolph on Saturday. “I didn’t think anybody would do this for me.”
Randolph can typically be discovered alongside 2nd Avenue, driving his bike from Ankeny to get to his job at Firestone in Des Moines. He works a 12-hour shift and leaves round an hour earlier than work begins, which implies there’s little or no daylight when he units out.
“I commute up 2nd Avenue in the morning and it’s dark. I noticed often that Kenny was riding alongside the road with no helmet and the lights weren’t on,” mentioned Erin Van Dorn, as she stood subsequent to her husband Eric at Bike World on Saturday. “We bike and so we understand safety. It concerned me.”
The first time Van Dorn spoke with Randolph was in September. Van Dorn tells KCCI she and her buddies had been in a position to purchase Randolph some protecting gear.
In the months after, she and her husband rapidly turned buddies with Randolph. Together, the couple introduced him to Bike World again in November after which once more the day after Christmas. It was by the assist of a GoFundMe that Randolph was gifted his new bike.
“I said I’ve never done a GoFundMe, but I’ll give it a try,” mentioned Jeremy Randolph, who organized the GoFundMe that raised almost $1,200.
Davis was additionally at Bike World on Saturday when Randolph obtained his new bicycle. Saturday wasn’t the first assembly between the two.
“On a day, it was about 104 degrees out. I pulled over and said, ‘Hey man. It’s too hot to be riding your bike out here. You want a ride?'” recalled Davis, reminiscing a couple of time a number of years in the past.
Davis says he posted the GoFundMe in an Ankeny Facebook group. People who both keep in mind seeing Randolph driving his bike or knew of him rapidly donated. The remainder of the bicycle’s price was lined by the Bike World group, who knew a Phat bike was the one Randolph wanted.
“They’ll float on top of soft surfaces,” defined Bif Ridgeway, Bike World’s gross sales supervisor. “So for someone like Kenny — where he’s riding all year long and the snow that we’re going to get here this week — he’ll be able to ride through anything with that bike.”
