Riverland students benefitting from donations of bicycles

Published 12:00 am Saturday, May 18, 2002

For an international student at Riverland Community College in Austin, it's not always practical to bring a car or bicycle to school.

Still, everyone needs to run errands, but it can be hard for someone unaccustomed to American culture to ask for a ride somewhere.

So when Jerry Wesely of Owatonna, donated 30 refurbished bicycles to Riverland, it made sense to them to donate the bikes to the international students and the English as a second language students.

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According to Amy Wagner, director of public relations at Riverland, approximately 20 students have received bikes so far. "It helps students who, for the most part, did not have cars or other modes of transportation get around Austin."

Wesely says he's been selling and repairing bicycles for years and "after being in it for this long … it's just too much for me to handle anymore, so I decided it was time to downsize. Though I think I will stay in the repair business, I decided it was time to really get rid of the refurbished bikes."

However, he says, it's difficult to sell used bicycles, so he began donating them. "I first donated about 40 to the Mankato Women's Resource, but I still had some more, so I said, well, let's donate some more."

One of his sons works at Riverland and Wesely said his son told him that the bicycles could probably be used at the college. In Wesely's mind, that made Riverland the next logical place to make a large donation of bikes.

He says he's pleased the bikes are being donated to the international and ESL students. "I understand they do not have many other real means of transportation and this supports their need to get around."

The bikes were formally presented to the students Friday at Riverland at the send off of Robert Erickson, a trustee for the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities who is taking a 2,101-mile bike tour of the 53 schools in the MnSCU system to raise scholarship money for part-time students. Erickson stopped at Riverland in Austin Thursday and Friday and traveled to the Albert Lea campus with Riverland president Gary Rhodes.

Amanda L. Rohde can be reached at 434-2214 or by e-mail at :mailto: amanda.rohde@austindailyherald.com