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Bike mechanic explains why he keeps unlimited snacks and drinks in his home garage

"I'm becoming the adult that I needed."

Representative photo credit: Canva

It takes a village to raise a neighborhood of kids.

As individuals, we might sometimes feel like we can't make much of an impact, but one person's simple gesture can sometimes make a huge difference in someone else's life. That's especially true when it comes to kids who don't have ideal home situations.

As an example, someone on TikTok who calls himself the Neighborhood Bike Repair Dude shared a video explaining why he keeps his garage stocked with snacks and drinks.

"So I had somebody tell me the other day that if I kept giving snacks to the neighborhood kids they were going to keep showing up at my door asking for snacks," he said. "And I just kinda stared at them blankly for a minute before saying, 'That is, in fact, the point.'"

"I don't know who had breakfast this morning. I don't know who's going to have dinner tonight. I don't know whose parents can afford to get them a snack after school. And frankly, it's none of my business. But what I do know is that every single kid can show up in my garage and get a snack and a drink, no questions asked. No one gets singled out and no one gets left out."


@murphys_law_irl

And id do it again. 😤 #neighboorhoodbikerepairdude #foodinsecurity #yeet

He explained the had been raised in a household where he got in trouble for getting food out of the refrigerator, not because his parents were cruel, but because that's the reality of food insecurity.

"Money was so tight that every meal had to be meticulously planned, and if we ate part of that meal, we might have just destroyed an entire dinner," he said, explaining that having something like a neighbor's garage where he could go get a snack any time he needed one would have been amazing as a kid.

"I had somebody comment that I'm becoming the adult that I needed," he added, "and I could not think of anything I'd be prouder to be."

People loved the idea and shared their own stories of having or being a neighbor like this, and how it really does make a difference.

"I had a neighbour that did this - we’d knock on her door once a day and she’d hand out snacks to all of us, no matter what time or season. Loved her so much. RIP Frida ❤️"

"This. I have a garage fridge full of snacks and drinks. All kids know they can use as needed, and it’s never been abused. I’ve had neighbors drop off stuff FOR the fridge. It takes a village. 💗"

"Thank you for giving those babies a full belly and a safe place. You’re who so many of us needed as children. You deserve all the good in the world."

"We have an elderly couple that lives across the street and they do the same thing! The entire neighborhood will go over and have afternoon snacks with Jim and Jane 💜"

"My dad was this parent in our apartment complex. All the kids hung out/played together and if they wound up at my dads, he fed them. He took in me and my sisters friends if there was trouble at home. He became the neighborhood ‘dad.’"

"I’m that dad now for my friends kids and my kids friends. I always make extra for dinner should they need a meal, and have a spare room or couch should they need a place to stay. I remember too many nights spent hungry and cold, sleeping in an abandoned house because that was preferable to going home."

"Even if not one of those kids is lacking the food at home, they’re watching an adult treat them with value and that alone will impact them forever."

But people didn't stop with praise, though. Several people suggested that he add snacks to an Amazon wish list and let people help out with supplying food items to keep the garage stocked. Not only did supporters step up, they provided so many snacks that Neighbood Bike Repair Dude took the link down because he didn't want to take more than he actually needed.

"We have been so incredibly blessed, like so blessed, oh my gosh," he shared. Watch this heartwarming update:

@murphys_law_irl

10/17/24 Amazon Wishlist Update! Thank you to everyone who’s helped! The kids appreciate everyrhing and are very excited! #neighboorhoodbikerepairdude #yeet #amazonwishlist

And to add just one more layer of awesomeness to this story, Neighborhood Bike Repair Dude's garage isn't just stocked with snacks. It's also got art supplies, woodworking supplies and other hand-son activities that kids can come use and learn with. So while he works on bikes, kids can hang out and do creative things. (Small language warning.)

@murphys_law_irl

October 13th, week recap! I have somehow also become an art teacher??? Idk how this happens… #neighboorhoodbikerepairdude #yeet #garagelife

Here's to people who see a need and fill it, and especially those who give others what they needed themselves and never got. Seeing "it takes a village" in action never gets old.





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When these teens took on Baltimore over a garbage idea, the city actually listened.

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What do you do with your free time? 17-year-old Destiny Watford spends hers saving her neighborhood.

Destiny lives in Baltimore, a city where more people die from air pollution than homicide — and the homicide rate is nothing to scoff at.

This isn’t an exaggeration; it’s a reality. And the people who live there deal with it every day.

Why is the air pollution so bad? Well, Curtis Bay — a neighborhood in Baltimore — is home to a coal export terminal, the nation’s largest medical waste facility, and an animal rendering plant, to name a few reasons.

All images via Starbucks, used with permission.

In 2012, Destiny learned about a plan to build the country’s largest trash-burning incinerator in Curtis Bay just a mile from her school.

Destiny looked around at her neighborhood, polluted by factory after factory, and decided she’d had enough.

Watch Destiny's full story:

These students banded together and stopped what would have been the nation's largest trash incinerator from being built just a mile away from their school. A Starbucks original series.

Posted by Upworthy on Friday, September 23, 2016

You may wonder, how could the country so completely disregard the health of these residents?

There's a reason Curtis Bay and communities like it are often the proposed sites for these types of facilities (ahem, environmental racism). A study published in Environmental Research Letters revealed that factories using toxic substances and waste plants are usually found in poor neighborhoods — and those neighborhoods are often predominantly made up of people of color.

The phenomenon is nothing new. History has shown time and time again that poor neighborhoods are often used as dumping grounds. See the Flint water crisis.

The communities being affected often don’t have a voice to fight against this injustice. That’s why Destiny is so special.

Determined to stop the incinerator from invading their neighborhood, Destiny and her classmates started a movement.

"Curtis Bay is my home," explained Destiny. "I grew up here. I live here. My family lives here. My friends live here. If a development like this is happening that would be putting our lives at risk, I couldn't ignore it."

She and her peers started Free Your Voice, an organization aimed at stopping the development of the incinerator.

They found out that the Baltimore City Public School System would be purchasing energy from the incinerator and challenged that decision. They won — the school board changed its decision and backed out of the contract. 21 other businesses followed suit.

Then, something even bigger happened.

"We learned that the incinerator’s permit had expired," Destiny said. "This was a huge opportunity for us because with an expired permit, you can’t construct. But it would not matter unless the Maryland Department of the Environment said publicly, 'Your permits are expired.' Which they hadn’t."

Free Your Voice organized protests, with people standing outside late into the night, urging the department to enforce the law and stop the incinerator.

It took months, but eventually the state did declare that the permit was expired, effectively halting all operations.

The community united, and their unified, persistent voice was loud enough to be heard.

Thanks to Destiny and her peers, the future of Curtis Bay — and its air — is clearer.

And Destiny led the charge. Her passion for her community inspired positive change. If more communities follow suit, hopefully together, they can force the tide to change.  

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