Volunteer Spotlight: Heidi Beierle
Heidi whale watching in Iceland
Heidi’s volunteer work at Community Cycling Center is very specific, though her support of our mission runs deep. While you won’t see Heidi working in our bike shop very much, her hours spent capturing the energy and feeling of our events and activities in writing is a highly important aspect of our Creative Team of volunteers.
As a volunteer storyteller, Heidi doesn’t just recap our events, she tells you what it’s like to be a part of them! Without her support, we might never know how many pizzas have been consumed in our bike shop every fall, or what it was that caught a little girls’ eye in the safety hallway of Holiday Bike Drive last year. Outside of all these observations, Heidi consistently reminds us that bikes are important as much as they are fun.
See what Heidi has to say about volunteering, and more, in this month’s spotlight!
Why do you volunteer here? How did you start?
I moved to Portland in the fall of 2011. A bicycling friend in Cottage Grove, Greg Lee, suggested I volunteer for the Holiday Bike Drive. Of course I took his suggestion and ended up at volunteer registration in 2011. What a wonderful community event! It’s an easy choice to volunteer every year. I wanted to be involved more often in Community Cycling Center programs, so I signed on as a volunteer storyteller.
What sort of volunteer work do you do?
I teach bicycle safety at the Holiday Bike Drive, and I write stories for the Community Cycling Center blog
What is your most memorable moment in your time volunteering with us?
One? I love being a writer at Community Cycling Center programs and events because it gives me a creative context to meet new people, observe, and see things in a new way. All that by way of saying, my most memorable moment is my time spent in the hallway at the Holiday Bike Drive watching the kids – their big smiles, cute outfits, enthusiasm, and astute observations. Invariably they point out things I wouldn’t have seen otherwise – like the little red chair in the courtyard at Legacy Emanuel.
What is your favorite Community Cycling Center program? Why?
Holiday Bike Drive.
Great energy goes into getting bicycles and readying them for the kids. Wow.
The event itself is an amazing coalescence of community good will. So many volunteers, so much community support to make it happen, staff who run it like a safe, tuned, and spiffed up bike. Wow.
Everyone is so happy. Everyone! Wow.
Do you have a dream bike? What is it or what would it be?
The bike I have (and I have only one) is a creamy, dreamy, orange creamsicle that has taken me all over. I love it, but I do find myself imagining what it would be like to have another. My dream bike would have magic properties that allow me to shrink it to pocket size. That way, wherever I go I can always have my bike with me. And if I want to go for a ride, I could sprinkle water on my shrinky bike. It would instantly grow to full size, and away I would ride. Oh, and it would come with a shrinky helmet, too.
What do you like to do when you’re not here?
I like to ride my bike and go for walks. I like watching movies and reading. I like going out for breakfast and traveling. I like making art and writing stories. I like spending time with friends and people watching.
What would your bio-pic be called? Who would play you?
‘Heidi’ starring Minnie Driver.