City of Naperville employees recently built 24 bikes to donate to Project HELP, who delivered the bikes to families’ homes.
The nonprofit normally provides mental health support, education workshops on parenting topics, and home visitation to at risk families. They don’t have the funds to give big gifts away which makes these bikes a special occasion for their clients, 89 percent of whom are low income.
“I was speaking to one of our counselors and she had relayed to me, one twelve year old boy she had just seen that afternoon in a home visit, said he was not going to leave the house until he saw that bike and he had all these plans of who he was going to go see first and he didn’t want it to rain tonight cause he wanted to use it tonight and he was just so thrilled,” said Peggy McGuire, Executive Director of Project HELP
The bikes were purchased with funds raised from internal city employee events, like a 50/50 raffle, and charity spin classes hosted by handlebars cycling gym.
AAA donated 24 helmets, one for each bike, so kids can stay safe while on the go.
Gina Marrano, a city HR employee, came up with the event as a way to get kids outside, having experiences, and making memories.
Naperville News 17’s Blane Erwin reports.
