Deep, down in the hidden recesses of The Harrelson Building Parking Garage you will find something unexpected. Enter on 4th street and follow the signs and here you will find the wonderful organization called A Bike for Every Child. Founded by Kelly and Clint Cascaden in 2016, this place is the reality of their vision to provide children with a bicycle. A child who might not ever get to ride a bike, let alone have their own bicycle will be able to receive a special gift this Christmas because of the dream and hard work of this special couple. You wouldn't expect to find a bicycle shop down here but it is like Santa's factory!
From dark garage to bright and beautiful!
Enter into the old county jail and you will be pleasantly
surprised to find a brightly decorated, cheerful
work environment where workers and
volunteers take old bikes and fix them up
so that they are safe to ride and also put
together new bikes and prepare them for
the Bike Giveaway scheduled for
December 16th.
There is a lot of space down here and
every square inch is covered with bikes and bike parts!
A mural is painted on the wall leading into the office here.
It speaks of the gift that God gave us by sending
HIS son JESUS to die for us.
So at this season of Christmas,
this organization seeks to give gifts to others
in love as HE taught us to do!
Life is like riding a bicycle
To keep your balance
you must keep
riding!
Certainly a true statement. That is what they do down there at the Harrelson building! In October, I had the privilege of looking on Craigs list and finding a job listing in the non -profit section. Needed: Lead bicycle Mechanic. Paul had been looking for a job here in NC since we moved here last June. He has his own bike shop at home and that is his passion; restoring old bicycles. So this was a perfect fit for him. I sent in his resume and signed him up to volunteer and he got the job!
Here he is in his "office."
Using the sponsored Park Tools!
He started in October
and began plugging away at fixing up bicycles.
It was a thrill to watch how
the bicycles just multiplied down there.
It seemed that it wasn't going to be possible
to reach the goal that Kelly had set
to donate 750 bicycles for Christmas!
John Robbins also works at A Bike for every Child.
Here is Paul and John getting stuff done!!
Getting the bikes loaded to bring them to St James Parish
for the big bike giveaway on Saturday December 16th!
Volunteer Bryan!
How many of these bicycles
have you put together Bryan?
Every bicycle had to get here in this gymnasium somehow!
It was not magic.
It was an amazing amount of volunteers
who loaded bikes on trucks and trailers and got them
there. One by one!
I don't know about you
but to me, this was a pretty
AMAZING
SIGHT!
Well it's like the loaves and fishes!
Kelly and Clint had a vision of
giving 750 bikes away.
GOD
did what HE does.
HE took the vision and made it
happen through their faith.
Who will get this sweet Barbie ride?
"And taking the five loaves and two fish,
He looked up to heaven and praising God,
gave thanks and broke the loaves and kept
on giving them to the disciples to set before
the people and He also divided the two fish among them all.
And they all ate and were satisfied"
Mark 6:41-42
And the vision fulfilled!
Not sure of the exact number of
bikes ready for the giveaway
but God in his abundance
PROVIDED!
On the day before the giveaway,
donations were still pouring in!!
Here is Alli Lockadoo and her family,
Ryan, Grady and Asher
and also Jodi Adams.
They came with a few car loads
of a dozen brand new bicycles from Walmart!
Thank you for your donation!
Kelly leading the volunteers!
So many volunteers!
Thank you to each
and everyone of them!
There are the ribbon cutters!
Before the doors were opened at 11 to start giving the children
their bikes, Kelly gave her volunteers final instructions.
Here is Cookie Cantwell who had a huge hand in the
whole process of getting the bikes to
the church, where they were stored for weeks ahead of time.
She also organized them by size
to make the giveaway run smoothly!
She led us in a prayer of thanks and
blessings on all of the recipients of
the bicycles.
So many to choose from!
Volunteers at the table all day checking the names off
of those who were pre-registered to
receive a bike.
A bow for every bike!
Just think how many bows were cut and tied
by volunteers!
No small act of kindness will go unnoticed by God!
Outside, volunteers set up a course
for the children to ride through and learn about
the importance of wearing their helmets and
riding safely!
People are lined up down the
block on this beautiful
Saturday in Wilmington, NC
to receive a bicycle!
First Station
Getting fitted for a helmet!
By far, the best part of the day was watching
the children pick out their own bike.
This little one is looking a bit shy.
Look at that happy face!
Volunteer adjusting bike seats and sometimes
putting training wheels on.
Look at this sweetheart!
Seat up or down?
Just Right!
My favorite bike was this Ninja
Turtle one. Look at that
numchuck handlebar!
There's my little girl Faith
helping out!
Paul had fun teasing this girl.
Putting her handle bars way too high!
I think she likes it!
BEAMING!
GOD IS GOOD!
A Bike for Every Child
20 N Fourth St
Wilmington NC
