Delivering Bikes to Families on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Photo: Stan Wolfson, Newsday
“Those who are not looking for happiness are the most likely to find it, because those who are searching forget that the surest way to be happy is to seek happiness for others” - Martin Luther King Jr.
On Monday, 16 volunteers met at our shop to prepare 45 bicycles and deliver them across the Treasure Valley to families who have spent the last three months waiting on them.
This effort has become an annual tradition of ours since our first delivery day in 2021 and is our way of centering community service on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
This delivery day focuses on serving the families experiencing the biggest barriers to accessing our shop and is the final push of a holiday campaign we begin in October. Every year, we invite 600 or more kids to receive a bike for the holidays. Each child is referred by one of our community partners based on need and inevitably some circumstance keeps a number of them from accessing our shop.
From flu bugs, to broken bones, to failing cars and transportation problems the families we serve have encountered just about every scenario possible keeping them from getting that bike their child has been dreaming of since being asked to draw a picture of it back in October.
In a final push to officially close out from our Holiday Kids Bike Giveaway, BBP organizes volunteers to join us in our day of service and take chance out of the equation by delivering bikes directly to those households facing the most challenges.
“This is exciting because our family actually had the flu heading into Christmas,” Our volunteer Buck said about why he and his son were helping. “To be able to deliver a bike to a family who had a similar thing happen is important.”
In total, 723 bikes were given to children through this year’s Holiday Kids Bike Giveaway campaign and we appreciate the work of the community that made that possible including the organizations identifying the families in need of help and the volunteers working to build those bikes and create greater access to our shop and programs.
MLK Day has only been recognized in Idaho since 1990 when we became the 47th state to commemorate the civil rights activist with a paid holiday according to the Wassmuth Center.
It was belated recognition for the man whose philosophy continues to influence millions, that wouldn’t have come without the hard work, organizing, and care of Idahoans demanding it of their elected state officials and we are proud to be part of continuing the tradition of reflecting on the reverend’s message and seeking out ways solve problems facing our community.
