Eric Villa started coming to Waterside in 2019 because he needed something to do between school and going back to his group home in Richmond. Carmello Madden showed up in 2022 because he was tired of waiting on his parents for spending money and wanted to earn his own. Neither of them walked in looking for a community, a career path, or a sense of what they were capable of. But Waterside has a way of offering all of that to people who aren’t even looking for it yet.
Eric Villa: Finding His People
Eric first came to Waterside in 2019, when he was living in a group home in Richmond and looking for something meaningful to do between school and going back home. Someone told him about the bike shop. He came to take a look, did an interview, and started as an intern a couple weeks later.
What he didn’t expect was to find a community.
“I found a lot of people that had more in common with the things I like to talk about,” Eric said. “In the group home, I didn’t really have a lot in common with a lot of people. Same in high school. Here, there are a lot of people with really niche knowledge in areas I find interesting.”
In the bike shop, he discovered not just a skill set, but a sense of capability he hadn’t felt before. He learned the mechanics of how a bike works, the parts, the systems, the problem-solving. But more importantly, he learned to trust himself.
“I always found it hard to have confidence in my own ability to do certain things,” he reflected. “Being here helped me develop a sense that I can be good at something if I give it enough time.”
Now on staff, Eric brings that hard-won patience into his work with younger interns. He thinks about the ways he was taught, what worked and what frustrated him, and adjusts his approach accordingly. “I alternate between giving people enough time to figure it out on their own and demonstrating,” he said. “Some people just need time to figure it out.”
Eric is also building toward a future that brings all of his skills together. He’s completed his Electrical and Electronics Certificate (EET), and sees a path toward e-bike repair and eventually working as an electrician. Coming from someone who once couldn’t envision himself in a skilled trade, that kind of clarity is hard-won and well-earned.
Carmello Madden: Showing Up Every Day
Carmello came to Waterside in October 2022, in 10th grade, through a program called New Door Ventures. He was tired of waiting on his parents for spending money and wanted to earn his own. The program offered different work options, and Carmello, who had grown up working with his hands painting houses with his grandfather, was drawn to the bike shop. He had never actually worked on bikes before, but he was ready to learn.
“When I first started, I was a little nervous and shy because I didn’t know everybody,” he said. “But now I feel more comfortable. It feels more like a family now.”
That sense of family deepened through shared experiences, including weekend trips to China Camp for mountain biking, outings that pushed him out of his comfort zone and showed him what was possible.
When Carmello’s New Door Ventures program was ending, he didn’t want to stop working with the Waterside team. He asked to stay on, and Waterside said yes, because he had shown up, committed and ready to work every single day.
That commitment has defined his time here. One moment that stands out: leading a bike maintenance workshop for elementary schoolers, mostly on his own. He spent two days prepping, practicing in his head what he’d say, and then faced a room full of kids firing questions at him. “It was special to me,” he said. “I felt like I’d been doing this before.”
Now a full-time staff member, Carmello is thinking ahead toward electrician training or welding. But what he carries from Waterside goes beyond technical skills. The lessons he learned here about showing up, working alongside people, and making a real difference in someone’s day are ones he plans to bring into every next chapter. “When I come to work, it takes my mind off everything,” he said. “I like helping people and making them feel better. And here, I get to do that every day.”
Both Eric and Carmello will tell you that what they learned at Waterside goes well beyond fixing bikes. They learned how to problem-solve, how to teach, how to show up. And now they’re the ones passing that on to the next group of young people who walk through the door.