About Us

Where it all began

Carlo and Sarah Franco met in 1994 at Goodfellow Air Force Base, Texas, having been sent there by the U.S. Air Force. They’ve been together ever since and in 1996, they married (twice). Carlo stayed in the Air Force until 2013, and then Sarah and Carlo moved to Greenville.

With a little bit of a plan and a lot of luck, they started Velo Valets, and then Velo Valets Gives Back. The family joke is that the Air Force brainwashed them into always working for their community. Their goal is to make things better where they can, and to address the needs that are in their power to address. Because of this, VVGB’s scope may appear broad, but since our work is localized to each community, initiatives act as parts of a machine, working to achieve the mission. We are working to have a holistic effect on a community, not to change one facet of a neighborhood.

Our Mission

Velo Valets Gives Back seeks to build community health using the strengths already in place.

Our Tactics

In all areas of outreach, the community and individuals we work with identify their own needs with us and actively participate as we address the issues together.

Healthcare services

  • ECHO coalition
  • Sterling Community Center service

Bicycle advocacy

  • Village Wrench at Pop-Up Saturdays
  • Free bike repairs for GHS’ bike skills clinic and Roger C. Peace adaptive cycle program and Momentum Bike Clubs

Park initiatives

  • Sans Souci parklet (with GE Affinity, Feed & Seed, CR8 Sustainable Furnishings, Studio H Designs and Sans Souci Neighborhood Alliance)

Business recruitment and development

  • Sterling garden market at Sans Souci Pop-Up Saturdays

Street safety

  • Old Buncombe street initiative

Community art

  • Mural unveiling

Neighborhood service

  • Adopt-A-Highway litter removal
  • Sans Souci Neighborhood Alliance board member
  • Parker Sewer and Fire District commission (candidate)

Our Core Values

When we developed our core values, we realized that the Air Force’s core values — Integrity First, Service Before Self, and Excellence In All We Do — defined us in more ways than we expected. Because of this, we have “borrowed” the Air Force’s excellent values, and added a couple of others (soldiers may notice one of their own). We explain what they mean to Velo Valets Gives Back.

Integrity First: Work hard and step in to help when you see a need.

Service Before Self: We are lucky enough not only to dream big, but also to be able to try to put these dreams into practice. Let’s not waste these opportunities.

Excellence In All We Do: Everyone deserves our best efforts.

Respect: All people deserve respect. Period.

Community Involvement: It’s what we do.

Our Initiatives

Sans Souci

We help make Sans Souci a safer, friendlier, more walkable and more beautiful neighborhood. Current projects include:

  • Old Buncombe safety initiative (with the Sans Souci Neighborhood Alliance, Senator William Timmons and Representative Chandra Dillard)
  • Adopt-A-Highway litter removal (with regular litter collection volunteers)
  • Sans Souci community mural (with the Metropolitan Arts Council, Sans Souci Neighborhood Alliance and Adam Schrimmer of Blank Canvas Mural Company)
  • First Saturday Pop-ups  (with the Village Wrench, Village Church, Sterling Land Trust, and Sterling Farmers Market)

Sterling

We help Sterling residents who seek health and nutrition counseling and education.

The Sterling Community Center provides programming for people aged 4 to 90+. As a physician assistant, I provide nutrition and health classes and one-on-one health counseling. Residents work together with us to create a community health program that meets the needs of the community and works to improve the health of individuals and the community over the long-term.

Bike Maintenance

Velo Valets Gives Back grew out of the work started by our bike shop, Velo Valets, the only mobile bike repair shop in Greenville, S.C. We provide free bike maintenance to a variety of programs in the Greenville area — Greenville Health System’s Roger C. Peace Rehabilitation Center and Children’s Hospital Bike Skills Clinic, the Village Wrench, Momentum Bike Clubs’ nine school-based and social clubs, and more. Our work allows these organizations to stretch their grant dollars further, so they are able to help even more people.

Miscellaneous

To accomplish our goals and continuously add to our store of information about the Upstate community, we sit on a variety of boards. These include the Sans Souci Neighborhood Alliance, the Sterling Center Advisory Board, the Clemson External Advisory Board for the College of Behavior, Social and Health Sciences, and Greenville Dreams. In addition, we are excited to be part of the Empowering Communities for Healthy Outcomes, or ECHO, coalition. Greenville County leads South Carolina in most opioid prescriptions written, most opioid pills dispensed, most opioid overdoses, and finally, most opioid deaths. The ECHO coalition is working to changes these horrific facts.

We also have a variety of other ideas and goals that don’t comfortably fit under our other initiatives. We would like to build a vending-machine system that would allow parents/guardians to easily get a helmet for their child, while also registering that child for a free helmet that their child chooses. (If you don’t know, children can get the best helmets. I wish I could get one with a Mohawk. Or maybe a comic book character…)

We would like to bring together people who want to be bike advocates for the county and work on changing the environment for all bicycle users at the local and state level.

We would like to develop a first aid program for cyclists. Carlo and I both know the value of having just a little bit of first aid and buddy care information when something bad happens. (If you don’t know, the Air Force trains everyone how to stop bleeding, how to splint a broken bone, and how to do a few other things that are probably too gross to mention here.)

Board Members

Carlo Franco

President

Owner of Velo Valets and CEO of Awesomeness

History: Greenville native, 23-year career in the U.S. Air Force. Retired in 2013. Married Sarah Franco in 1996 and started a crazy journey. Also, addicted to gummy bears.

Robert “Bud” Griffin

Vice President & Official Builder

History: Vietnam veteran, construction worker, father of four, and general helper, confidant and advisor.

Kathryn Smith Payne

Treasurer and Keeper of the Details

History: Greenville native, avid cyclist, partaker of circuits of rainbows and lollipops, and generally upbeat person, possibly due to Postobon. Shares Carlo’s gummy bear addiction.

Sarah Franco

Executive Director and Physician Assistant

History: Sarah joined the Air Force and trained as a journalist. She stayed in for over five years and was honorably discharged in 1999. She worked for Stars and Stripes for over three years before going back to school in San Antonio to earn her Masters in Physician Assistant Studies. She is now a certified physician assistant.

Other Very Important People

Nate

Chief volunteer, cat-shirt wearer and official sales person

Official job: Personal trainer and head mechanic

History: Former U.S. Navy submariner, and official crazy person. Velo Valets co-founder. Nate has been annoying Carlo and Sarah ever since.

Chris Folks

Keeper of the forest, guru of finishes

Buzz

Chief mentor and the person who makes everything possible

Connor Jackson

Mechanic and helper (and Clemson student)

Clayton Walker

Mechanic and general bright spot

Robby McCall

Mechanic, vintage bike aficionado and fixer of all things. Sticker connoisseur

Interested in how you can help? There are many ways to show your support.