Team shifts into high gear to collect bikes for the homeless

Maureen McLean, left, Stephanie Singleton and Austin Busone of Holy Cross Parish in Indianapolis work together to collect donated adult bicycles for homeless people. The bikes help the homeless people get to jobs, medical appointments and even college classes. (Photo by John Shaughnessy)

By John Shaughnessy

An 11-year-old boy and a 70-year-old woman form part of a team that has found an unusual way to help homeless people.

Give them bicycles.

In the past year, the donated bicycles have been used by homeless people to get to doctor’s appointments, ride to work and even attend classes at Ivy Tech Community College in Indianapolis.

Now the team from Holy Cross Parish in Indianapolis is shifting into high gear to continue its drive to collect adult bikes in good condition.

“We’ve given away 37 bikes, and we have a list of 147 people who are requesting them,” says Maureen McLean, a 70-year-old member of Holy Cross Parish, who has dedicated much of her life to helping the needy.

For years, the St. Vincent de Paul Society chapter at Holy Cross Parish has provided food, clothing and blankets for the poor and the homeless. The bicycles became another major emphasis at the request of the homeless people they serve.

“We try to listen to what the poor say to us,” McLean says. “In listening to them, some of the big needs they have are shoes, bus fare and bikes. Bus fare is close to $60 a month. When it comes to finding jobs, keeping jobs, getting to medical appointments and other appointments to survive, it’s hard to walk to these places. People said they needed the bikes.”

So McLean, 11-year-old Austin Busone, and his mother, 41-year-old Stephanie Singleton, have been collecting and fixing adults’ bikes then giving them to people who show up at the Horizon House in Indianapolis, a nearby day shelter and resource center for the homeless.

“They give me a big hug when we give them a bike,” McLean says. “For them, it’s like, ‘Wow! People care.’ One of the first people I gave a bike to said, ‘I just got a job. Now you have a bike for me so I can get there.’ He’s kept the job and now he has a truck. It’s an old, old truck, but he’s getting ahead.”

Singleton calls the bicycles a “bridging” item for the homeless.

“This is an item that is necessary for people to get to their job, to make the transition to getting off the street,” she says. “It’s not an item that people think the homeless need, but it makes sense. It’s the most requested item besides food and clothing.”

At 11, Austin has learned to fix bikes from a training program at Tabernacle Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis. He helped deliver one of the bikes he fixed to a woman living in a tent near railroad tracks within the parish’s boundaries.

“She was very happy, and I was very happy, too,” he says. “It was fun fixing the bike.”

Singleton says she is trying to teach her son to be compassionate toward others. It’s a lesson that McLean says she learned from her father.

“My mother died when I was young,” McLean says. “My father always said, ‘We always have room for one more. We always help others because that’s what God wants us to do.’ My Catholic education taught me to do that, too.”

Besides the bicycles, the team also collects backpacks, watches, alarm clocks and reading glasses for the homeless.

If anyone wants to donate an adult bicycle in good condition, McLean says to call her at 317-631-4369. She figures many people have bikes in their garage or basement that are seldom or never used. She even offers to pick up the bikes.

She knows the bikes will make a difference to the people who will use them. And helping them makes a difference to her.

“It energizes me. It comforts my soul,” McLean says. “Nothing is better than helping these people who are trying to survive in this world. It’s a tough, tough time for them. You have to give them hope.” †