THE ROAD BACK TO BEARINGS

Ray’s journey at Bearings began over 10 years ago when he was just 7 years old and attending the drop-in program at our former westside location. He went with a group of friends, and they were glad to have something to do to keep them busy instead of just hanging around the neighborhood.

For the next few years, Ray learned to build bikes and earned several of his own. But then our westside location closed down and we lost touch. Bearings’ Adair Park location just wasn’t as convenient and he had started participating in some other youth programs.

It wasn’t until this past summer that 19-year-old Ray found his way back to Bearings after Co-Founder Tim O’Mara had a chance run-in with his mom, April. Tim heard that Ray was looking for work and knew right away that Ray would be a good fit for a position in the shop.

Ray was excited to be back, but also nervous. He hadn’t worked on bikes in years! But the skills came back quickly and he began to learn more advanced mechanics as the weeks went on. When we first met Ray, he was a young kid learning and looking up to the older teens and staff at the shop, but now Ray has stepped into that role himself, acting as a coach and mentor to many of our youth participants.