Be Part Of The Solution

North Main Motors is donating money to purchase bicycles for those who need wheels to get back and forth to work


When it made plans to celebrate its 35th year of existence in August, North Main Motors, 1001 E. 5th St., decided rather than throw a blow-out sale or huge party, that it would do better by using the energy of the occasion to give back to the community which it has served, and thrived in, for well over three decades.

From this came the idea that for every car North Main Motors sold in the month of August, it would give away a bicycle to those who needed one to get back and forth to a job when they had no other transportation. They of North Main Motors know as well as anyone that the number one impediment to getting and keeping a job in Union County was a lack of transportation, while also acknowledging that not everyone in Union County is not a position to buy a car. So if they could help get workers back and forth on two wheels rather than four, so much the better.

Lisa Marshall, (right, front) and the crews from the Hope Center and North Main Motors, 1001 E. 5th St., model some of the bikes that the dealership will be donating in honor of its 35th year of existence. Ms. Marshall is the Director of Operations for North Main Motors and is the person who kickstarted this drive.

As this idea brewed, North Main Motors Director of Operations Lisa Marshall first contacted a big box store in order to make arrangements to purchase the bicycles. But here she ran into a corporate mountain of paperwork and indifference and nothing much came of that idea.

Then Ms. Marshall called a friend, Sean Fitzgerald, co-owner of McAuliffe’s Ace Hardware, 1299 W. 5th St., knowing that Ace at one time sold bicycles. She asked Mr. Fitzgerald if Ace still sold bikes – they don’t – but in the best tradition of being a part of the solution and not the problem, after hearing Ms. Marshall’s story, Mr. Fitzgerald said he still had the number of his old bicycle distributor and offered his services in obtain the bikes.

But the story doesn’t end there. North Main Motors was selling cars like hotcakes in August and keeping track of who needed what as far as bicycles go was getting to be too much. So another phone call was made, this time to Becky Bolt, Executive Director of the Hope Center, asking for advice and assistance.

Two minutes after she heard the story, Ms. Bolt and the Hope Center was on it like a duck on a June bug, they at the Hope Center knowing all too well how a nice, serviceable bike can make a huge difference when it comes to gaining and maintaining employment.

Since North Main Motors is simply not set up to determine where the bicycles are most needed, a deal was struck. North Main Motors agreed to donate a flat $10,000 which will be put in a pot, from which the Hope Center alone can dip into and purchase a bicycle that Mr. Fitzgerald will order as needed.

“We realize that not all transportation looks the same,” Ms. Marshall said, “and we knew that the Hope Center could help us get the bikes to the ones who need them most.”

One response to “Be Part Of The Solution”

  1. Harriet Casey says:

    NO SOLAR FRAMS!!!! There are no plans for any disposable of old, damaged, or out of work panels of solar gathering. There are no plans forFIRE of panels. The fields of solar panels have no emergency services couldn’t get there!!!!!
    The solar fields leave the ground unusable for years. Why are the solar energy business in the mid-west?
    Other places can gather the energy. How about on top of buildings? How about land that is already damaged soil?
    There are other options besides farm fields.

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