Three local businesses team up for the Pay it Forward Bike Drive and Raffle, donating bikes and helmets to help those in need keep moving forward
By Hilary Dartt
Since opening April 1, 2023, C and C Cyclery, Carmen and Casey Hines have donated bikes to those in need, particularly those in recovery/Reentry and children. In doing so, they strive to give hope and strength, as well. Carmen’s goal is to raise enough funds to not only support these groups, but to also start a nonprofit organization (501C3) to include the adaptive/disabled community in need of transportation and much needed outdoor time.
Now, Carmen and Casey are partnering with Josh Lederer, owner of Recovery Electric, and Robin DePalma, an owner of the NAZ Wranglers, for the Pay it Forward Bike Drive and Raffle.
Throughout the Wranglers season, which ends July 13th, the group is collecting new and used bikes to donate to local groups with people in need, including veterans, individuals in recovery, Yavapai Big Brothers Big Sisters, Boys and Girls Clubs, Yavapai Re-entry, Prescott Area Shelter Services, and more.
They’re also offering a raffle with prizes from more than a dozen local businesses (scan the QR code for an updated list). Proceeds will go to bike repairs and the purchase of new helmets through Lazer helmets, which provides a steep discount to Carmen.
For Carmen, Josh, and Robin this bike drive is personal.
Carmen lost her brother to addiction. The Hines family, have other family members still struggling with this disease. Josh has been sober for 14 years. Robin’s brother suffers from addiction.
Shortly after Carmen and Casey opened their bike shop in Prescott Valley, a community member came in looking for a used bike. They’d lost their driver’s license and needed a way to get to and from work. The Hines’ fixed up and donated a used bike and, Carmen said, “That quickly snowballed.”
They started reaching out to local groups that help people re-enter society and found the need was huge. Before long, they’d expanded their reach, providing bikes to children who may not otherwise be able to afford one. Findlay Subaru Prescott helped them donate 19 new bikes and Lazer helmets to the Yavapai Boys and Girls Club of Prescott Valley for Christmas 2023. Findlay Subaru Prescott has also graciously purchased 15 NAZ Wranglers tickets for C and C Cyclery to gift to community members in recovery. This is an exciting way to include and celebrate their accomplishments during the final home game of the season on July 13.
At a Prescott Valley Chamber of Commerce event, Carmen met Robin and told her about how she and Casey repair and donate bikes. Robin immediately started to think about how the NAZ Wranglers could get involved. Then she met Josh, and when she learned more about him and his business, she thought they could partner with C and C Cyclery and their bike drive.
When Josh heard about the potential of being part of the bike drive, he jumped on the opportunity. “Anything that involves recovery and helping other people, I am in.”
“I know what it’s like to be where these people are,” he said, adding that his dad was instrumental in his sobriety, helping transport him and supporting him—and “not everyone has that.”
His goal with Recovery Electric—whether it’s by participating in programs such as the bike drive or eventually hiring others in recovery—is to help people get a start and be productive, like his dad did for him.
The Wranglers season was about to begin, and Robin’s wheels were turning: “We could do this for the whole season and see how big we can make it.”
Obviously, the goal of the bike drive and raffle is to give bikes and helmets to those in need. But the purpose goes even deeper.
“If someone knows that even one person cares,” Carmen said, “then they may have the hope and strength to move forward and not give up.”
One of the young men Carmen and Casey helped through the bike shop is “doing really well. He got a full-time job, and he got his license but still rides his bike.”
“I would just like to be the hope, to show that somebody cares. That if [people in recovery] put in the work, it’s worth it.”
Robin said sometimes it takes someone from outside addicts’ family or close social circle to get through to them, and she hopes this bike drive serves that purpose for someone in the community. The message can be especially effective coming from those who have “been through it and are now giving back.”
She loves being able to use the NAZ Wranglers platform to make “a much bigger impact and give that hope.”
Josh said he never thought he’d be able to have what he has—a loving wife and family, two kids, a white picket fence, and dogs. “I wish that what I have, I could give to somebody. This is what it feels like. If more people [in recovery] knew the feeling I have, they’d stick with it.”
In everything he does, then, he strives to share that message. “This is my second chance. I’m going to seize the moment. Whatever it’s going to take, I’m in.”
How to Participate in the Pay it Forward Bike Drive
- Donate new or used bikes. Bring bikes to C and C Cyclery at 8500 E. Highway 69 in Prescott Valley, (you’ll receive 75 raffle tickets if you donate a bike in good working condition by July 1).
- Donate used bikes for parts (raffle tickets are only given for bikes in good working condition, but parts are desperately needed as well).
- Donate raffle prizes (contact Carmen or Casey at 928.379.5075). The deadline to donate raffle prizes is July 1.
- Buy raffle tickets (scan the QR code to buy and to see an up-to-date list of raffle prizes). The deadline to buy raffle tickets is July 12.
- Carmen, Josh, and Robin will draw raffle tickets at the July 13 NAZ Wranglers game (you don’t have to be present to win).
- Cash donations are also needed as bike repairs can be expensive.