A long-simmering dispute between Moses Mathis, who has given away thousands of bikes to kids, and the Fayetteville-Cumberland County Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Committee has boiled over.
The King committee has sold a warehouse that Mathis leased for $1 to an Atlanta-based company that builds affordable housing for college students. Mathis has 90 days to vacate.
Money from the sale will go to develop a 17-acre park that honors King.
The Fayetteville (North Carolina) Observer reports that Mathis gave away 550 bicycles and 75 computers to area children last year from the Tiffany Pines Community Outreach Center. Mathis, 69, has given away some 8,000 bikes to children over the years.
He'd been in the warehouse since 2002; he says he might have to move his operations back to his garage at his home in Tiffany Pines.
Mathis' mission statement, posted on his website:
“The mission of the Tiffany Pines Community Outreach Center (TPCOC) is to take kids from drug infested neighborhoods, introduce them to a positive environment, building confidence, self-esteem and good work habits.”
A lawyer for the King committee said Mathis just needs to vacate the site; if he can find a new location he can take the building with him.
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