They came from a country in the middle of Africa to a city in the middle of America. Husband, wife and four sons, ages 20, 15, 8 and 5. They have been here since January and during the summer were finally settling into their apartment. The oldest son needed a bike for his full-time work and the 15-year-old needed transportation for his after-school job. The younger boys just needed bikes to be kids.

The Good News Garage at Trinity Lutheran Church in Des Plaines, which has through the years gained notoriety for refurbishing donated cars, added bikes to their repertoire last winter when they weren’t receiving as many cars. When connected to this family of six, they only had two adult bikes available. But then another, and at the last minute a fourth, arrived. The team added training wheels to the fourth one and the bikes were ready for delivery. 

When Trinity volunteers delivered the bikes, cousins of the grateful recipients came out to share the excitement. Trinity credits Jessie Campbell from Exodus World Service for setting up the details and being present to interpret when needed. It was Exodus that connected the garage with recent immigrants who have varying transportation needs for cars and bicycles

Since the delivery to the family over the summer, Good News Garage fixed up and gave away several more, including 13 at Trinity’s community picnic and seven to Elk Grove’s bicycle safety program.

If you are interested in donating a vehicle or bicycle, please contact Good News Garage at 847-827-6656 or

 Information for this story was provided by Trinity member Frank Hauser and Trinity Communications Manager Emily Olivos. Good News Garage was one of the ministries featured during the 2025 Metropolitan Chicago Synod Assembly. Access it here.