“It was a whole community-wide effort to ensure that people could get to work when they need to; to get to school in an efficient way; just to be able to have some form of transportation,” said the Rev. Luke Fodor of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church.

Saturday’s event by the New Neighbors Coalition culminated the collection and repair of bicycles as well as obtaining new and used helmets.

Mark and Tonia Wilson from Wilson Endurance Sports hosted a safety training seminar to coincide with handing out the bicycles. Fodor said the information was translated into Arabic, Kiswahili and Spanish for the group; the translators were from the Buffalo-based Journey’s End Refugee Resettlement agency.

Families from Columbia, Venezuela, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Syria have resettled in the Jamestown area.

Pictured are the bicycles recently donated to the New Neighbors Coalition for the new families in the community.

The donation of bicycles is just the latest effort to help the families adjust to the community. As Fodor noted, many of the asylum seekers and refugees have found work locally, and having a bike may help them sustain a job.

Finding work, Fodor said, is just one of the many challenges the coalition has been addressing to assist the families. Other obstacles include suitable transportation for jobs outside the downtown Jamestown area and helping individuals learn another language.

Fodor thanked Mark Wilson for “teaching our new neighbors the rules of the road.” He alluded to motorists who don’t always see bicyclists and other potential dangers while riding in the road.

“It was helpful to have someone there who could eloquently and simply demonstrate with physical motions the ways you ride a bike,” said Fodor, who also thanked Eric Chapman at Upstate Cycle for providing helmets.

Ali Johnson, who previously served as a part-time case manager, helped arrange donations of used bikes from the community.

To ensure the bikes were in good working order, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church turned to Matt Canby, owner of Pearl City Cycle. Canby, who donated his time and labor to inspect each bike, delivered the last batch prior to Saturday’s event.

“One of my main missions for starting Pearl City Cycle is to get more people on bikes,” Canby previously told The Post-Journal. “I think the bicycle is a very powerful tool — whether it’s getting someone to work, or getting someone to a doctor’s appointment, or just the exercise benefit of it — bikes can kind of bridge that gap in the community.”

Canby said he would give each bike a “tune up” to ensure road-readiness.

Fodor recognized the organizations that have helped welcome and support the new families: Hillcrest Baptist Church, Zion Covenant Church, Jamestown Islamic Society and the Noon Rotary.