photo by: Mackenzie Clark

A stack of Veo bikes sits at the 12th and Haskell Recycle Center on April 8, 2020.

A bike-share company claimed to have reached out to the local Boys & Girls Club in an attempt to donate bicycles before scrapping them, but the club says it has no record of the company, Veo, contacting it.

After Lawrence residents expressed anger about an approximately 20-foot-tall pile of bicycles at a local scrap yard this week, Veo representatives told the Journal-World that most of the bicycles were significantly damaged and that Veo attempted to donate the rideable bikes to some local organizations in March but that stay-at-home orders related to the coronavirus had interfered. Specifically, Veo media relations director Amy Hesser said one of the organizations that Veo reached out to was the Boys & Girls Club but that Veo did not hear back.

However, Alissa Bauer, director of marketing and communications for the Lawrence Boys & Girls Club, said the club has no record of Veo calling. Bauer said in an email to the Journal-World that although the club was closed because of the stay-at-home order related to the virus, calls to its main line were being forwarded to a staff member’s cellphone so the organization does not miss calls or voicemails during the closure.

Bauer said she reached out to Veo because she was concerned about the possibility that the club had not returned its inquiry and spoke to southeast regional manager Andrew Miles, who also spoke to the Journal-World regarding Veo’s attempts to donate the bikes. Bauer said the organization’s main line keeps a log of all incoming calls, missed calls and voicemails, and the club has no record that Miles or Hesser called or left voicemails.

When asked whether Veo actually tried to call the club about a potential donation, Miles responded in an email to the Journal-World that he did but he didn’t use his personal number. He said that he used Google Voice to call, which he said is his standard practice when reaching out to new groups and individuals he’s not acquainted with yet.

“So, when Alissa checked both mine and Amy’s personal cell numbers which she got through our talks yesterday and cross checked that with the list of her phone records, it wouldn’t show,” Miles said.

Miles added that is why Veo didn’t characterize the attempt as the club rejecting a donation, just that Veo and the club “didn’t connect.” He said he has “immense respect” for the Boys & Girls Club as an organization and didn’t want the club to be viewed in a negative light.

Veo, formerly known as VeoRide, operates a bike-share program in Lawrence and has also requested to bring an electric scooter rental service to Lawrence. The current service allows people to rent bikes using a smartphone app. The company provides both pedal bikes and electric bikes, but Veo recently removed its pedal bikes from the University of Kansas campus after its agreement with KU ended on March 30.

photo by: Mackenzie Clark

A large pile of Veo bikes sits at the 12th and Haskell Recycling Center, 1006 E. 11th St., on Wednesday, April 8, 2020.