Staff rally to replace stolen e-bike for co-worker
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When John Walker had his e-bike stolen from its usual spot outside of the Guggenheim Building in Rochester, news of the incident spread, and colleagues in Anatomic Pathology stepped up to replace the bike.
Earlier this month, staff from the Division of Anatomic Pathology gave back to a member of their extended team in a big way.
One evening in November, after his shift at Mayo Clinic, John Walker, a routing contractor with the division, discovered his e-bike had been stolen from its usual parking spot outside of the Guggenheim Building in Rochester. When news began to spread about the incident, his colleagues in Anatomic Pathology and elsewhere across the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology raised donations to purchase a new e-bike for Walker.
"John does transport work for a lot of our cases. He's very friendly, and so many people in our unit are fond of him," says Doris Hennen, a Pathology Support supervisor. "When we found out what happened, so many members of our staff reached out and asked if they could do something. Once we got approval from John's PossAbilities supervisor, we began collecting donations."
Donations started coming in from the Division of Anatomic Pathology and other areas in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology. Within a few days, they'd collected more than enough donations to cover the cost of a replacement e-bike for Walker.
"It was so great to see how willing everyone was to step in and help regardless of whether they knew John personally," Hennen says. "I had people reach out and say, 'If we don't raise enough funds, I'll make up the difference.' I believe this truly shows the generosity and compassion of people at Mayo Clinic and shows how much John has impacted others."
On Thursday, Jan. 12, Hennen met Walker and his parents, along with Walker's house supervisor, at the New Spin Bicycle Shop in Rochester to pick out a new e-bike. With the extra donation funds and a discount from New Spin, Walker was able to purchase an upgraded e-bike model with personalized adjustments to make sure he has a smooth new ride.
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