TONAWANDA, N.Y. (WKBW) — So you're driving through Tonawanda and see a house with a few bikes out front and don't think twice. That is until you then see some more bikes spread across the front yard. It isn't until you you take a closer look and see that each bike is labeled with a number that you realize this isn't something you see every day.
Well, Wendy Coyde, the woman who lined them up and labeled each and everyone says the process was as tedious as it looked.
"I hurt my back," Coyde said. "It's killing me and then we have to put it all back."
However, Coyde said the pain is worth it because being able to feel anything at all is a miracle.
"I got a lung disease called Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis which is terminal," Coyde said.
Coyde tells 7 News Reporter Sydni Eure about her 20 years of service in the United States Air Force. Coyde said she got the news while serving in Desert Storm. She said doctors gave her just four to six weeks to live. Her only hope was a double lung transplant.
"I felt really guilty at first because the person that gave me her lungs was 24 years old," Coyde said. "I didn't know what I was supposed to do. I didn't know why God kept me here. I really did need a purpose and this kind of just fell into place."
And just like that, a yard full of bikes fell onto her front yard.
"Last year, I found out about this group Wheels for Workers 716," Coyde said. "What they do is repair and refurbish them so that people without cars can get to work and little kids that have never had a bike can have a bike."
The rest is history. Coyde has been organizing donations ever since. It's a home-grown push to help Western New Yorkers who lack access to transportation is getting a ton of new wheels thanks to the efforts of one woman fighting a battle of her own.
"I'm the middle man, the supplier," Coyde laughed and said. "They call me the bike recruiter."
Coyde said the collection of bikes started out as just a small idea to pay it forward but on Wednesday she reached a big goal and the community was there to support it.
"Well today at four o'clock, bike number 100 came in," Coyde celebrated.
It was truly a cause for celebration and riders from Slow Spokes and Wheels for Workers made sure she didn't do it alone.
"It's unbelievable to think that one person coordinated with their friends and family and got 100 bicycles in just a few weeks really," President of Wheels on Work John Hannon said. "It's amazing."
Hannon said they will be collecting the rest of Coyde's donation on Thursday and will get to work on the repairs.
While Coyde may not know where every single bike will end up, she knows one thing for sure, she's found her new purpose.
"So I want to say thank you to the community, to my friends and my family," Coyde said. "I love it because it makes me feel like I really make a difference."
