Volunteer Spotlight – Elijah

Bike Walk Wichita from the beginning has trusted that the right person will show up at the right time to help. “The bees come when the flower is ready”, a friend of mine taught me, so we jump into projects knowing that others will join in. This spring, with our focus on digital communications, we knew we could use someone to help with video production. Who would show up?

Grandpa and Elijah came to ReCycle one Saturday pre-covid, to record an episode of Grandpa’s Podcast about getting Grandma’s bike ready to roll. Elijah was serious about producing their podcast to be the best it could be. Wow, what if this young man was interested in volunteering? We invited them to our next podcast recording session, not sure if they’d show. But sure enough, that next week both came to our session to learn more about what we’re doing.

And show up Elijah did! He has now worked on or produced 4 videos for BWW, including one where he interviewed Barry Carroll, our founder about his pre- and post-ride routines. We gave him a general idea of what we were looking for and he took control of the whole process, from writing, staging and videoing, editing, and finally uploading the finished product to our YouTube channel. It’s a gem. Everyone who interacts with Elijah is put at ease by his demeanor and professionalism. And yes, I’m saying that about someone this young! As he helps us tell our stories, Elijah has learned a lot about our community and its needs. It’s been a learning experience for him, and productive for us.

Our mission is to make biking a walking safe, equitable, and appealing. There’s a lot of meaning packed into each of those words, and Elijah’s story really fits. Of course, his videos are appealing, they’ve got a great look. But the opportunity we gave Elijah, and the way he fit in with our organization, meet that equitable goal. Everyone is welcome to contribute what they can. We gave them a fair chance to be a part of this, even though he was, let’s say, younger than any of the other team members. And of course, Elijah took that opportunity and made something special out of it. I can’t say thanks enough to him!