Transcript

Location: Wrench & Roll Collective, 1200 Caledonia Street

Matthew Christen: My name is Matthew Christen, and I started Wrench and Roll Collective. The one thing you’ll notice is that there’s a bicycle above the overhang on top of the shop. That was to help let people know it was a bike shop. The whole space along the front of it was all glass window display areas. You could see what was going on, and I think that it made it a real welcoming place. Everybody Bikes was born out of the bike shop. I wanted to create, as a part of that resource– being more than a bike shop, an opportunity to help people who are very under-resourced. I had one gentleman who had moved to La Crosse from Missouri, and he had been given a diagnosis that was going to be terminal. And he was on lots of medication. And he basically didn’t want to be around his family and friends to have them watch him die, is basically what he said to me. And so he went on to get his bike, and about 6 months later, comes into the shop. He says, “Matthew, I want to buy you lunch, ”and I was like no, you don’t need to. I knew he didn’t have very much resources, so I said, “You don’t need to do that.” He says no, no, no, no, no, you don’t understand. He said, “When I came to La Crosse, I was on 16 medications. I just came from my doctor, and I’m down to four medications.” His lung condition was fine. It was no longer hanging over his head. He said to me, “Matthew, it’s because of that bike. It’s because of what you did. And, ah, you know, I, I, I  don’t cry a lot, but you know, it, it.  Water welled up in my eyes.