Wilmette Bike Drive Success

On that Pedal Power. From trustee Mike Basil:

Nicole collected 247 bikes, 54 helmets, $700 in contributions to buy additional helmets, and 12 scooters from people who traveled from near and far to participate. Unbelievable. 220 bikes were delivered to Hull House on Saturday, and 27 bikes needed extensive repairs, so they were donated to the "Recyclery" in Evanston, which is a faith-based organization that will repair the bikes and donate them to kids in area Head Start programs.

The owner of Wilmette Bicycle & Sport Shop donated his own time plus the time of one of his mechanics for the entire day on Saturday tuning up the 220 donated bikes, making them gift-ready. This Wilmette business showed incredible generosity and deserves very special gratitude and recognition.

Here's the best part:

Hull House has created a new distribution plan specifically for Nicole's efforts, where children in some of the most difficult neighborhoods in Chicago will be rewarded for high achievement in school with a new bike and helmet. The first group of kids will receive their rewards this Wednesday at the Mahalia Jackson school on the south side, and Nicole and Bennett will be there to help distribute the bikes.

There will be hundreds of deserving, needy kids in Chicago who will earn a terrific reward for their hard work in school under the most challenging of circumstances. All because ordinary people on the North Shore came together to achieve an extraordinary result.