FirstEnergy employees are always quick to volunteer their time and talents to benefit people in the communities where they work and live – including by assembling bicycles that provide children from lower-income families in southwestern Pennsylvania the freedom to explore their neighborhoods.
Forty volunteers from the company's West Penn Power service area and other FirstEnergy companies recently converged with people from local businesses and organizations to turn wrenches and build 200 bicycles at Mammoth Park in Westmoreland County, one of three sites to host the United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania's annual Build A Bike program.
The FirstEnergy Foundation provided a $10,000 grant to help fund the program, which provides new bicycles, helmets and locks to kids who need them across Westmoreland, Allegheny, Fayette, Butler and Armstrong counties – all of which are served by FirstEnergy.
"We really just wouldn't be able to purchase these high-quality bikes without the pivotal funding provided by the FirstEnergy Foundation," said Wendy Koch, Senior Director of Regional Engagement for the United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania.
Koch said FirstEnergy engineers and line workers "critically think through everything" and deliver quality assembly.
"FirstEnergy's crew is really caring," Koch said. "They treat these bikes as if their own children will be riding them."
Aaron Timbrook, a FirstEnergy IT applications analyst and avid lifelong cyclist, brought his personal bike stand and bag of tools to the event. "Volunteering is something I'm passionate about, and this aligns with my interests," he said.
Timbrook's first bike was a BMX model, and he's never quit pedaling, regularly navigating the twisty, rocky trails of western Pennsylvania on his mountain bike to stay healthy and in shape.
Learning to ride a bicycle instills children with independence, confidence and physical and mental strength, Koch said. Unfortunately, not enough area families have "wiggle room" in their budget to purchase a bicycle, she added.
Including this year's effort, the Build A Bike program has provided 2,100 bicycles to children in need over the past decade. The program marked its 10-year milestone in 2024 by building 600 bikes– doubling the number assembled and donated in 2023.
"That's 2,100 smiling kids who have some freedom and feel the wind in their hair," Koch said.
Loren Dalla Betta, a Transmission Engineering Supervisor at FirstEnergy, said he volunteered because he enjoys helping out the community in which he lives and works. Like Timbrook, his first ride was a BMX bike that he launched off dirt mounds in the woods. "I had my fair share of falls," he recalled.
After three hours, the teams produced more than 700 pounds of empty cardboard bike boxes ready for recycling and row after row of shiny new two-wheeled steeds awaiting their riders and summer adventures.
To learn more about FirstEnergy's community involvement initiatives visit Community (firstenergycorp.com).
