ONTARIO – Shelby Bicycle Days’ Spokes4Kids Community Challenge completed its mission on Monday evening with the purchase of bicycles for local children.
With the help of the Ontario Walmart, Spokes4Kids was able to purchase 50 bikes to distribute to children in need this holiday season. Spokes4Kids co-organizer Nicole Lewis said the bike purchase was only the second part of the Spokes4Kids event.
“The first part is the event that’s part of Shelby Bicycle Days, where we get teams of five to compete in goofy challenges, and the second part is where all those registration fees come together and we’re able to buy bikes with the help of Walmart,” Lewis said.
The bike purchasing event comes five months after the third-annual Spokes4Kids event at Shelby Bicycle Days. This year’s event drew 19 teams representing organizations and businesses from all corners of Richland County.
According to Lewis, the 19 teams’ registration fees as well as sponsorship funds from Richland Bank combined for more than $2,200 going towards the purchase of 50 bicycles. The Ontario Walmart also had surprise towards the bike purchase.
“We’re going to give them a $500 gift card to help with their purchases,” said Cayleb Sciacca-Cox, co-manager of the Ontario Walmart. “They came in with a goal of 50 bikes; when we did our training transaction it was a little bit over what they were going to have, so we’re actually going to give them an extra discount to help them reach their 50 bikes.”
The 50 bikes were delivered to Crossroads Community Church on Monday night, where Richland County Children’s Auxiliary gathered additional donations for children in the community they’ve identified as children who might need a little assistance for the holidays. The bikes will be donated to those children and distributed on Wednesday.
It’s a win-win for both the Ontario Walmart as well as Spokes4Kids.
“Walmart takes a lot of pride in being part of the community, helping out people and being involved,” said Walmart assistant manager Jeremy Bowman. “It’s part of our goals, and we love to give back to our community. It was a great honor to organize these bikes with the associate, it feels good.”
For Lewis, there’s only one drawback in donating the bikes.
“I wish I could see all their faces, because that’s my favorite part of Christmas,” she said with a laugh. “It’s really fun to gather all the bikes, and know there’s going to be some little kid that’s going to be super happy on Christmas Day.”
