Biking Buddies Beat the Odds
Written for Lutheran Social Services His Hand newsletter
This is how you ride your bike to work when you are legally blind.
Put your white cane with the red tip in your backpack, so it sticks up like a flag. Have your friend ride a few feet in front of you. Start out down quiet Spring Street on the sidewalk, cut across the high school parking lot, tool down Antler Street and onto Beech Street. Walk your bike across busy Silverleaf Street, then cut across the deserted truck repair lot. Listen carefully when your friend tells you to stop or to turn or to avoid an obstacle in the road.
This is what Dave Staley does every Wednesday to commute from White Pines Home in Gladwin, where he lives with five other men, to Gladwin County Industries (GCI), where he does piecework for area businesses.
Dave’s friend is the aptly named Leroy “Buddy” Goldsworthy, program manager at White Pines, one of 17 group homes for persons with disabilities managed by Lutheran Social Services of Michigan. Lutheran Social Services also helps people with disabilities who live in their own homes.
Dave, 50, can see shapes and shadows but no detail. When the weather is nice, he loves to ride his bike hear the home. One day, Buddy suggested riding to GCI, where Dave works five days a week doing tasks like sorting, assembly and packaging.
“He liked it so much we decided to do it every week,” said Buddy.
The route is just under two miles, and it takes them about 15 minutes. After making sure Dave arrives safely, Buddy bikes back to White Pines. He returns to GCI in the afternoon to accompany Dave home.
“He’s never more than a few feet away from me,” said Buddy. “I tell him when we need to take a turn or stop, and he can tell when we’re going up or down a hill.”
Serving people with developmental disabilities involves more than making sure they have food, clothing and shelter. Lutheran Social Services wants to help its clients participate in the community as much as they can and to realize their personal hopes and dreams.
Dave says he’s living a full life. “My handicap don’t bother me. It don’t hold me back. I watch Tiger baseball on TV. I go to church on Sunday. On Thursdays I go to the nursing home with some of the other guys and sing hymns.”
Dave also sings with Buddy during their bike rides. His favorite tunes include “Kumbaya” and “You Are My Sunshine.”
The people Dave lives and works with think he is a ray of sunshine. “He’s always optimistic, no matter what,” said Buddy. “He keeps telling the staff we’re going to win the lottery – even though most of us don’t play.”
Dave sums up his positive attitude by saying people are like fried eggs: “Sunny side up, over easy and well done!”
Buddy says he and Dave will continue their weekly bike rides until winter sets in. And he knows when that happens, Dave will be counting the days until spring when he can start again.
Put your white cane with the red tip in your backpack, so it sticks up like a flag. Have your friend ride a few feet in front of you. Start out down quiet Spring Street on the sidewalk, cut across the high school parking lot, tool down Antler Street and onto Beech Street. Walk your bike across busy Silverleaf Street, then cut across the deserted truck repair lot. Listen carefully when your friend tells you to stop or to turn or to avoid an obstacle in the road.
This is what Dave Staley does every Wednesday to commute from White Pines Home in Gladwin, where he lives with five other men, to Gladwin County Industries (GCI), where he does piecework for area businesses.
Dave’s friend is the aptly named Leroy “Buddy” Goldsworthy, program manager at White Pines, one of 17 group homes for persons with disabilities managed by Lutheran Social Services of Michigan. Lutheran Social Services also helps people with disabilities who live in their own homes.
Dave, 50, can see shapes and shadows but no detail. When the weather is nice, he loves to ride his bike hear the home. One day, Buddy suggested riding to GCI, where Dave works five days a week doing tasks like sorting, assembly and packaging.
“He liked it so much we decided to do it every week,” said Buddy.
The route is just under two miles, and it takes them about 15 minutes. After making sure Dave arrives safely, Buddy bikes back to White Pines. He returns to GCI in the afternoon to accompany Dave home.
“He’s never more than a few feet away from me,” said Buddy. “I tell him when we need to take a turn or stop, and he can tell when we’re going up or down a hill.”
Serving people with developmental disabilities involves more than making sure they have food, clothing and shelter. Lutheran Social Services wants to help its clients participate in the community as much as they can and to realize their personal hopes and dreams.
Dave says he’s living a full life. “My handicap don’t bother me. It don’t hold me back. I watch Tiger baseball on TV. I go to church on Sunday. On Thursdays I go to the nursing home with some of the other guys and sing hymns.”
Dave also sings with Buddy during their bike rides. His favorite tunes include “Kumbaya” and “You Are My Sunshine.”
The people Dave lives and works with think he is a ray of sunshine. “He’s always optimistic, no matter what,” said Buddy. “He keeps telling the staff we’re going to win the lottery – even though most of us don’t play.”
Dave sums up his positive attitude by saying people are like fried eggs: “Sunny side up, over easy and well done!”
Buddy says he and Dave will continue their weekly bike rides until winter sets in. And he knows when that happens, Dave will be counting the days until spring when he can start again.