Graue technicians refurbish abandoned bikes for Lincoln D.A.R.E. program

 

[April 29, 2020] 

On Tuesday afternoon, Chris Graue and a team of technicians from Graue Chevrolet Buick Cadillac in Lincoln handed over six bicycles to Christy Fruge of the Lincoln D.A.R.E. program.

The bikes were retrieved from the city of Lincoln Street Department and refurbished by the technicians at Graue.

Graue noted that there was a collection of unclaimed bicycles being stored at the street department. He called Street Superintended Walt Landers and made arrangements for five bikes to be handed over to Graue.

Graue noted that right now, the service department is not as busy as normal. He wanted to provide a project for technicians to fill up some of their idle time and keep them working. The five bikes were brought to the Graue garage along with a sixth bike that was in storage at one of the technicians homes.

The bikes had issues that needed to be addressed so they would be safe to give to children. Tires, brake pads, brake cables, and seats were among some of the items that needed to be replaced.

Once finished, the bikes were handed over to Fruge’ to be given out to children in the community.

Front l to r: Chris Logan, Eric Milham, Kyle Edwards
Back l to r: Christy Fruge, Chris Graue, Frank Tripplett

Fruge said that she would seek the input of local school teachers and the school resource officers to make decisions about who should receive a bike.

Graue and Fruge were joined by the technicians for a photo op on Tuesday evening. The technicians who worked on the bikes included Chris Logan, Eric Mileham, Kyle Edwards and Frank Tippett.

Graue said that the dealership is planning to do another set of refurbished bikes if the D.A.R.E. program needs them. The goal is to refurbish about 12 to 15 bikes for area youngsters.

[Nila Smith]