The Miracle of the Multiplying Bicycles

So, the Cooks and Kernans were sitting on the lanai one Saturday afternoon reflecting on the success of last year’s Christmas Street Parade. They and some other MBYC members donated 8 bicycles to needy kids at the end of last year’s Street Parade. This made the whole event more fun for everyone.

“Let’s see if we can get MBYC members to donate 40 bicycles this year,” said the Cooks. “We have two weeks before the parade to make it happen,” said the Kernans. “My spread sheet says that $75 should get a kid’s bike and a helmet,” calculated Brent. “We can store them in our car warehouse,” said Dianne. Thus, began the miracle of the multiplying bicycles. After an email blast on Sunday and a truly moving speech from Brent at Monday Madness, the cash started rolling in. Within 48 hours we had enough money to buy 46 bikes and 46 helmets and the car warehouse could hold no more. After several Walmart visits by Commodore Bob Boland and warehouseman John Kernan, we had the bikes and helmets in custody.

With help from Steve Stefanides, who oversees “Christmas Island Style”, we donated the first 40 bikes to needy kids at the Guadalupe Center in Immokalee that serves hundreds of needy children. See the photo of the Guadalupe teachers and MBYC volunteers. Then the final 6 bikes were loaded on our boat trailer and donated for needy Marco kids at the reviewing stand of the Marco Island Street Parade.

Our many thanks to the MBYC folks that donated toward this year’s bikes and helmets. What are we going to do next year?