In search of smiles, Pierce repairs bicycles in need of love and care

By Phil Major
publisher@wood.cm
Posted 5/27/21

Robert Pierce, who lives north of Mineola, has been fixing up older or damaged bikes and donating them to children who could use them for almost a decade.

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In search of smiles, Pierce repairs bicycles in need of love and care

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In a perfect world, Robert Pierce would have the money to continue his children’s bicycle ministry unabated.

But bike parts don’t come cheap, and Pierce, retired at 77, depends on his Social Security check to care for he and his wife.

Pierce, who lives north of Mineola, has been fixing up older or damaged bikes and donating them to children who could use them for almost a decade.

He started working out of his church, Sand Springs Baptist, and has moved to donated work space near his home.

The shop and a nearby storage area are filled with bikes in various stages of repair.

Some are cannibalized for parts. Others just need a little cleaning and other TLC.

Repairs can be anything from a minor tire patch to major replacements of bent wheels or broken gear boxes.

That’s when things can get expensive. Wheels for a 29-inch bike can run $80 to $90 a pair. Still a bargain for a bike worth more than $200.

So far the ministry has spread by word of mouth, both for people donating bicycles and for those seeking them.

For those who can, Pierce suggests a donation to the bicycle fund, through the Sand Springs church. Those donations allow him to purchase more parts.

He would rather give bikes away but can’t without donations.

Pierce said he enjoys the work, and it gives him something to do.

His greatest joy is imagining the smile of a child upon receiving a bike.

He pointed to a tiny bike and thought of the happiness it could foster.

“I know some young person’s going to get that bicycle and will have a ball on it,” he said.

Growing up in West Texas, he remembered not having a bike until he began to put aside some money working for his father and saved enough to buy a three-speed English racer. He claims he was the fastest rider in town.

Pierce served in the U.S. Navy during Vietnam and has spent most of his life learning various trades like plumbing and carpentry to make a living. He migrated to Wood County in 1984 through the help of an old school chum after a large-scale lay off at the uranium mine in Grant, N.M.

He has worked for the church, including assisting with summer camps, where he got the idea to help children who could use a bike but don’t have one.

Those wanting to assist can mail donations to the Sand Springs Baptist Church at PO Box 476, Mineola TX 75773 and notate them for the bicycle fund.