Engines 4 Education: Bismarck business gives back, donates to BPS Foundation’s backpack program

BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) - Inflation has forced many of us to adjust our budgets, especially at the grocery store.

Maybe that means eating out less, preparing more food at home, or going without some of our favorite foods.

But for many, the rising costs at the grocery store might mean going without a meal.

The good news: there are resources and food pantries to keep people fed and there’s also help in an unlikely place – a small engine repair shop.

Kevin Bailey is a problem solver.

“I like working on the stuff,” said Bailey.

He likes it so much he’s made small engine repair a full-time business. He opened Engines 4 Education in 2020. As the name suggests, it’s about more than just engine repair; he’s hoping his work here might help solve another big problem in the community.

“I partnered with the Bismarck Public Schools backpack program, and I donate 10% of my profits to their backpack program,” he explained.

The backpack program provides easy to prepare foods free for kids in need to take home every weekend.

“Forty percent of our kids here at Dorothy Moses go home and, in the evening, there isn’t a big meal,” said Laura Just, social worker at Bismarck’s Dorothy Moses elementary school. “And so, these backpacks that have food for them, especially over the weekends, provides a meal for two days and then also some snacks.”

For Bailey, a father of four, the idea of hungry kids, tugs at his dad heart. So do photos like this, sent to him after his latest donation.

“They send me pictures of what they buy. It kind of hits home closer to home,” he said.

Bailey proudly displays letters from the BPS Foundation on the wall in his shop, not to brag, but to spark conversations about the backpack program, and about helping others.

“Being able to do that really does make a person feel good,” said Bailey.

And while he knows he can’t fix every problem, that won’t stop him from trying.

Bailey says the community has been unbelievably generous since he opened Engines 4 Education. Many people have donated old, broken snow blowers and lawn mowers. Kevin gets them working again and then sells them, with 10% of that profit going to the BPS backpack program as well.

Click here to learn more about the BPS Foundation. And to learn more about Engines 4 Education, visit them on Facebook.

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