LET’S RIDE
Summer bike giveaway back after COVID-19 hiatus knocked chains off tradition
A sheet is going home in Friday folders across Isabella, Gratiot and Clare counties letting parents in all three counties know that if they know a kid who’s done something good that they are eligible for a new bike.
Bikes for Kids is returning after a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19.
The program, sponsored by Barberi Law, was started in 2014 as a way to provide incentives to kids to do something nice for someone else.
“Whether it is helping out a fellow classmate in the schools who might be struggling or being bullied by others or looking out for a neighbor, a senior citizen of someone in the community in need of their help,” the law firm announced in its monthly newsletter. “Barberi Law loves recognizing children who perform some act of kindness to help others.”
One child is chosen based on their good deed to receive a bicycle, a lock and a helmet every week based on a vote of the Barberi Law staff, Joe Barberi said. Barberi Law pays for the bike while Meijer throws in the helmet and lock.
The program hopes to award eight bikes this year. That’s two less than in years preceding the COVID-19 pandemic, Barberi said. The first kids are expected to receive their bikes in June.
Barberi Law started the program in 2014, but put it on pause for two years due to COVID-19.
Nominations are accepted at the law firms website barberilaw.com or via snail mail at 2305 Hawthorn Drive Suite C, Mt. Pleasant, 48858. Informational sheets about the program are being sent home with students in the Mt. Pleasant, Shepherd, St. Louis, Clare, Beal City and Alma public school systems. They are also being sent home with students at Sacred Heart, Saginaw Chippewa Academy, St. Joseph, Renaissance Academy and St. Mary’s.
They are hoping that, in addition to the bike giveaway program, they can restart a summer reading program in 2023 that sends children into assisted living facilities to read.