Greensboro's African American Community Newspaper since 1967
Thunderous cheers, screams and shouts of unrestrained joy shook UNCG’S Fleming Gymnasium when 1,800 Guilford County Schools’ third grade students learned they would receive a new bicycle for expressing their aspirations, who they respect and why “kindness matters.”
Thanks to Greensboro-based Bikes for Kids Foundation and its sponsoring organizations, the gigantic bike giveaway is the culmination of an educational exercise to imbue positive values, impelling students to focus on academic achievement for future success. Weeks ago, all GCS third grade students from lower socioeconomic households in Title I schools wrote essays about the benefits of conveying kindness, respect and working hard in school. Their teachers said several essays would be selected, with the writers winning a new bicycle. That served as ample motivation for the students to write the essays.
After all the music, cheerleading and advocacy for academic excellence subsided, Bob Krumroy, president of the Bikes for Kids Foundation, introduced participating sponsors to read “an exceptional essay,” with the writer receiving one of several bicycles prominently exhibited on the arena’s floor. Moments after the final bike was awarded, he said another two bikes would be awarded, suggesting that wasn’t fair since all the essays were extraordinary, a situation requiring him to consult with his assembled sponsors.
After a huddle, Krumroy emerged, announcing all 1,800 students would receive bicycles, as UNCG students rolled out about 75 blue Huffy 24-inch bikes with safety helmets, prompting uproarious cheers. Those bikes and others would be delivered to the schools for distribution. During the preceding weeks, teams of sponsors assembled 1,800 bikes in a north Greensboro warehouse. He said the value of the bikes exceeded $235,000, and that size of the giveaway was believed to be one of largest events of its kind anywhere.
