Plum community rallies to get bicycle for carless teen so he can make calls as junior firefighter

Kevin Butler has not known 17-year-old Elijah Mendez for long, but the Plum High School senior has made an impression.

Butler, a master sergeant with the school’s Air Force Junior ROTC program, met Mendez in August when he became a cadet.

“He’s a very kind, thoughtful, on-point young man. He’s always willing to help anybody that needs help. He’s always trying to find a way to become better at whatever he’s doing,” Butler said.

“I talk to a lot of the kids in the high school. They always say he’s someone they can rely on.”

About nine months ago, Mendez was inspired to become a junior firefighter when he was coming home from work and saw Renton fire Chief Carey Cole cutting a tree that had fallen during a storm.

“I jumped out of the car and went to go help him,” Mendez said. “We talked a little bit.”

Mendez is one of two junior firefighters at Renton, which has 12 volunteers active on its roster, department President Anita Maydak-Neace said. Some who start with Renton have gone on to “bigger and better things,” including paid departments, she said.

“That’s why we’re happy when we get juniors like Elijah who are excited about being in the fire department,” she said. “That’s what builds us.”

Joining the department was a wakeup call for Mendez, who had attended school virtually from eighth through 11th grade while living in Florida.

“I needed that little push. I used to stay home 99% of the time,” he said. “It kind of woke me up in a way. I realized I can truly be something better than someone who stays at home all the time.”

Without a car, and his bicycle falling apart, Mendez often ran to the station from his home about a mile and a half away. Sometimes, when trying to get there in time for a call, he’d arrive to find firefighters were already gone.

But, worse than that, Butler said, all that running caused Mendez to get bad shin splints.

“He has a won’t-quit attitude. He kept going,” Butler said. “He really needed a bike.”

Because he’s not allowed to give gifts to students, Butler searched for a way to get Mendez a new bicycle. It eventually led to a chain of events, and people, that made it happen.

At the Junior ROTC’s toy drive in December, a Plum police officer connected Butler with the Western Pennsylvania Police Athletic League, which conducts its own toy drive, Stuff a Store.

“We give dozens of bikes away every Christmas. This one had a purpose,” said Joe Risher, a retired Allegheny County police officer and Stuff a Store co-chair.

With $200 to spend, Risher said he was loading a bicycle from a department store into his car when he realized it was not the kind of bike Mendez needed.

“I needed to get a proper bicycle for what he’s doing,” Risher said.

He stopped at Gatto Cycle Shop in Tarentum, which became another link in the chain.

“Me and a co-worker listened to this guy’s story, and we were touched by it,” said Will Ryan, the service manager. “I told the guy I’d do whatever I can to make sure he gets a bike, including match the money he had.”

Ryan said the owner, George Gatto, said “no problem” to selling a bike at cost, and Ryan covered the cost over $200.

The selected bike, a Retrospec hybrid, retails for $400, Ryan said. He couldn’t recall how much he put toward it, saying “I threw my card down and walked away.”

The bike was outfitted with some accessories, including blue flashing lights.

“It was a touching story, and it felt like the right thing to do was help this kid out,” Ryan said. “Everybody needs help sometimes.”

Mendez received the bicycle in a surprise at the station in December.

“It was unbelievable. I had no idea about it,” he said. “It was just crazy whenever I walked in and I was like, ‘whoa.’ I just wasn’t expecting all of it.”

He’s been using it.

“It’s awesome,” he said. “It’s super lightweight. It’s great. I love it.”

As he looks ahead to graduation, Mendez says he’s considering going into the military and becoming an emergency medical technician. His mother, Ellie Geiser Belhaj, an Oakmont native, has done both, serving in the Army and then the Army Reserve and working with ambulance authorities in the area.

“I didn’t know it was going to be this big. Everybody being so supportive is amazing,” she said. “It’s so nice the community comes together and helps somebody who’s trying to help other people.”

Butler is grateful it worked out like it did.

“He’s a young man that does so much for his community, and his community was able to help him,” Butler said.