CLEVELAND, OH: Dozens of manufacturers used their hands-on skills to assemble bicycles for children in need in the Washington, DC area during a special event organized by the National Tooling & Machining Association (NTMA) at its Engage 2021 Precision Manufacturing Conference held October 26-29 in Alexandria, Virginia.
NTMA’s Build a Bike event was organized with the Boys & Girls Club of America of Greater Washington and was attended by more than 80 NTMA members. It took 90 minutes for the teams of manufacturers to assemble 15 bikes and also create cards for the children who will receive the bikes.
The 15 bikes were accepted onsite by Mike McDonald, Regional Vice President for government relations at the Boys & Girls Club of America of Greater Washington. The bikes were delivered to a Boys & Girls Club in Manassas, Virginia which provides before- and after- school care, including homework help, meals and sports activities for area kids. The bikes were immediately made available and were very popular, particularly the orange and black ones, which arrived on site the day before Halloween.
“Engage 2021 was one of the first opportunities for NTMA members to meet in person in more than a year, and the bike building event was a reminder of the great things that can happen when we are all together,” said NTMA President Roger Atkins. “We are grateful to everyone who attended and participated in the Build a Bike event and also thank the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Washington for helping us give back to the greater Washington, DC community.”
“On behalf of the Boys & Girls Club of America of Greater Washington, I want to thank NTMA and its members for this donation,” said McDonald. “It was great to observe first-hand the enthusiasm and teamwork by NTMA members at the Build a Bike event. The bikes are already being put to good use by the boys and girls.”
More information about the Charity Bike Building Event and other Manufacturing Engage 2021 programs can be found at manufacturingengage.org.
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NTMA is the national representative of the custom precision manufacturing industry in the United States. NTMA’s has 29 chapters throughout the U.S. and nearly 1,200 member companies that design and manufacture special tools, dies, jigs, fixtures, gages, special machines, and precision machined parts, representing more than $30 billion in sales annually. While many of NTMA members are privately owned independent businesses, the products and services they provide are vital to the nation’s economy, serving industries from aerospace to electronics to nuclear power. More information: www.ntma.org.
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Participants in NTMA’s Build a Bike event organized in cooperation with the Boys & Girls Club of America of Greater Washington