Farewell to my job at the Bicycle Alliance, but not Goodbye

After three years as our Office Manager and Membership Coordinator, Donna Govro is moving on.  She looks back on her time with the Bicycle Alliance with some fond memories.

I have decided to leave my job at the Bicycle Alliance to pursue other interests of an entrepreneurial nature.  It’s with mixed feelings that I say goodbye, as the Bicycle Alliance has not only been an employer to me but an organization that supports my views on bicycling as a way to promote a healthy lifestyle. 

From the very beginning, I knew that the Bicycle Alliance was not going to be a typical, quiet office job.  After only a few weeks on the job, I volunteered to participate in the Gay Pride parade and found myself in the office practicing the hand signals to the tune of the pop song “YMCA” and then bicycling down 2^nd Avenue next to my new boss on his folding bike dressed in a clown costume.  Then there was the Tour de Fat bicycle event where everyone donned zany costumes.   We had volunteers dressed as the “Lunch Ladies” serving beer and the President of the Bicycle Alliance wearing a beer tap vest and beer cap construction helmet as he carried the cash to the safe!  Or on a more serious time when everyone in the office pedaled to Golden Gardens park one brisk, sunny morning to plant a memorial Susie Tree.  There were many times that I traveled to various events during the work day or on weekends not by bus or car but by bicycle, giving me an even greater appreciation for our mission.

Looking back, I am sure that these are the things that I will miss the fun and quirky times.  I might even some day miss the administration and organization that it took to support them.   But most of all I think that I will miss my co-workers and the volunteers.  I also have to say thank you to everyone at the Bicycle Alliance, the staff, volunteers, members and the board.  Through my association with the Bicycle Alliance I have learned many things, but mostly that I can bicycle anywhere I please.