“The Power of Giving: Stories of Volunteerism” – Story #6

Brooks Sumberg is a 59 year-old retired businessman from Westport who nine months ago voluntarily created The Connecticut Bike Project. Taking over various church parking lots on weekends in Fairfield County, he single-handedly runs “bike donation drives”, collecting scores of used bicycles, which he trucks to the St. Charles Urban Center run by Catholic Charities in Bridgeport.

There Roberto Sanchez, Director of the Food Pantry, and his two sons, fix and clean up the bikes, pump up the tires, and distribute them for free to men in the predominantly Latino immigrant community, who are in need of transportation to get to work and to find jobs, and to neighborhood children

Brooks experience digging water wells in rural Tunisia as a Peace Corps volunteer in 1972/1973 cemented his commitment to community service. “It’s important to do something that’s bigger than your self,” says Brook, who hopes to expand the bike project to other counties in Connecticut in the coming year.

Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network – © 2009