Auto parts manufacturer Denso has their feet back on the pedal in providing families with 33 bicycles this holiday season.
This, after two years of pausing its build-a-bike program due to the pandemic.
DENSO had all 33 bikes, and 34 helmets, on display Friday afternoon at its Southgate Drive building, as workers handed them over to the Guelph Neighbourhood Support Coalition.
For DENSO workers, the fall was once again the most wonderful time of the year.
"It's my favourite community event we do," said Cody Bones, a machine technician at DENSO.
"Every child should believe in Santa or their holiday traditions, either religious or not. I, myself, grew up believing in Santa and so for me, I don't want a single kid to be good all year, and think that they were really good and Santa did not visit them."
He said he hopes the children getting these bikes get as much joy out of them, as workers did building them.
From Oct. 17 to Nov. 25, DENSO departments were divided into bike shops, and every week the department goes without a safety incident or customer claim, they get a bike part.
Four bike parts mean the department gets to build a bike.
Despite a two-year hiatus, workers didn't skip a beat, building 33 bikes, on par with what they did the first three years of the campaign. You might say it was like a riding a bike for them.
Since 2017, DENSO has donated 155 bikes.
"To me, this is a huge accomplishment for us," said John Klassen, the president of DENSO's thermal manufacturing facility. "I'm really proud of what we've accomplished at this company. This event started as a quality initiative … and it's grown into this."
Inspections of the bikes were done ahead of time by Grand River Cycle.
After the closing ceremony, bikes were brought out one-by-one by the workers and dignitaries, and loaded in the back of a truck. The bikes will now be matched up with local families.
"This is just icing on the cake to a strange couple of years," said Brendan Johnston, executive director of the Guelph Neighbourhood Support Coalition.
"These bikes represent love and kindness. It represents a beautiful group of humans who work at a beautiful company, who care. Even though the families may never get to meet any of you, (and) you may never get to meet any of them, I hope you know that they feel that love and kindness from you, and they see that as a company in their community that cares."
