Elysia Allos’ hometown didn’t let her down.
It was last weekend when the lifetime local resident read on the Ladner’s Landing Facebook Group that 16 bicycles belonging to Latino Migrant workers from three nearby farms had been taken on Arthur Drive while they were attending Sunday Mass at nearby Sacred Heart Church.
Were they stolen or mistakenly believed they were left out for Delta's Spring Clean-up Week?
Allos has her own theories, but her only concern was the workers who suddenly had lost their only mode of transportation.
She immediately reached out to Kim and Jon Pelen who run the charity Latino Workers Support Society. They helped get the word out if anyone had any bikes, equipment or locks to donate, but they only could do so much. The couple and their young twins were about to fly to Guatemala for an extended stay.
That’s when Allos and her family stepped up.
“My fiancé and I are living in the basement suite of my parents’ home I grew up in, so there’s four adults here, so I told her we would do it. So suddenly we had all these bikes at our place. My dad has been helping me every night to tune them up and get them rideable,” Allos said.
So far 14 bikes have been donated to workers at West Coast and Millennium famrs. Gus Getz from Sacred Heart Parish has also donated another seven to Windset farms. The goal now is to deliver 24 bikes since some workers didn’t have one.
Anyone with bikes or equipment they would like to donate can reach Allos at: [email protected]. A Go Fund Me page has also been set-up for cash donations.
“It kind of like re-stored my faith in humanity,” added Allos. “Everyone’s just been absolutely wonderful. My husband and my dad and I have actually got to meet so many, like amazing people in Ladner, just by going around picking up these bikes.”
Fortunately, if the bikes were stolen, it appears to be an isolated incident according to Acting Insp. James Sandberg, media spokesperson for Delta Police.
“I have done a database search for theft of bicycles between April 10 and April 18. In that time period, DPD received four separate reports regarding theft of bicycles – one from River Road West in Ladner, one from Scottsdale Mall, one from Superstore on Scott Road, and one from 92nd and Scott,” said Sandberg.
“Determining which calls are related specifically to spring clean-up can be subjective when you reflect back on the data. We generally get more suspicious person reports because people are picking through the discarded items, but I do not believe we see a significant change in call volume.”
