Dr Pedro Moreno teaches Fundamental Education in Vehicle Maintenance at the Salesian Intermediate School in Elche. He is responsible for the coordination of this beautiful project which enables a group of children and young people without resources to get bicycles that are perfectly serviceable and in good condition.
This is the fifth consecutive year of the project and for that reason this year’s project was named "Bicycle Solidarity 5.0."
The first step which is fundamental is a campaign to collect used and broken bicycles. Advertising is done in the school and among the general public through posters and social networks.
"The students who collect the bicycles also repair them. The work involves sanding of damaged and rusted parts, repainting, oiling the chain, repair and replacement of damaged components, and in general a total repair, both mechanical and aesthetical. The work is carried out in our laboratories and is part of the curriculum of the different training modules," says Dr Moreno.
Subsequently the bikes are delivered by the students themselves to people who may need them, mostly children and young people. "In recent years we have delivered more than 160 bicycles to associations such as 'Aldeas Infantiles' or the Red Cross, the parish or inter-parish Caritas, to shelters, apartments for the care of young people, nursing homes in Elche and also schools in Guinea-Bissau ... in addition to a large number of children and young people in difficulty."
Solidarity is a virtue opposed to the individualism and selfishness that govern society. "This work not only helps teenagers to learn solidarity, but it also prepares them for a trade."
