Although we reached our goal of $15,000, it doesn't have to stop here... LET'S KEEP IT GOING! Just because the end of the holiday season is near, we don't need to stop the giving. Let's spread this holiday joy into the new year and help us continue to surprise more kids into 2017!
Shhhhhhh... you never know where the Project Mobility Crew will show up. It could be us knocking at your door !!
Imagine being 8 years old and looking out your front window as all the kids in the neighborhood are riding their bikes down the street, you couldn't join them, until now...
It was Christmas Eve in 2009, the snow was coming down as our caravan of people were driving to a house in Geneva to help us surprise a special little girl named Rosie.
We will never forget that day, we had the Chicago news stations from CBS, ABC, and NBC filming us as we all went up to their front door wearing Santa Hats as the neighbors were peeking out there windows.
We always get some of the most amazing reactions, but this time something was different...
Rosie’s mom and dad were in tears as she pedaled a bike for the first time, it was Tommy her older brother who brought tears to the eyes of over 40 adults, even the TV crews were all choked up. He looked at all of us and said, now Rosie doesn’t have to watch out the window as we ride our bikes, she can ride with us! Not a dry eye in the house! It was just an awesome moment!
Many of you may know the story behind our Holiday Adaptive Bike Giveways, but for those of you who don’t here is a little back story...
Project Mobility’s Holiday Adaptive Bike Giveaway started in 2009 with a 10 year old girl named Riley. Her mom, Lynn, was looking to buy her husband a bicycle at The Bike Rack and came across the Hallmark Hero video featuring Project Mobility. What Lynn didn’t know was that Riley was also watching that video behind her. She turned around and saw Riley with tears in her eyes and she said, “Mom I am going to get a bike like that for a child this Christmas.” Lynn explained how expensive the bikes were and asked her how she could do that.
Riley set off on her mission to surprise a child with disabilities with a $4,000 adaptive bike. She took the family Christmas card list and sent a letter to each person on there. She said she would like them to donate money to Project Mobility instead of buying her a gift. Not only did Riley raise enough money to surprise one child with an adaptive bike, but she actually raised enough to surprise 3 children!
So here we are 7 years later, Riley is a senior in high school and has grown up to be as amazing of a young lady, as we knew she would be.
Then Tommy came along...
Tommy is Rosie's older brother, he is the young man in the video selling suckers to help Riley raise money to get bikes for kids! That little boy has grown up to be such an amazing young man. Tommy isn't selling suckers any more but he helps at just about every fundraiser we do, we can always count on Tommy. Not only can we count on Tommy, but Mom, Dad, and most of all Rosie are there to support us!
Not only do we bring the freedom of mobility to so many children but we have made some wonderful friends along the way. Like many of the families we have surprised over the years, they want to keep paying it forward.
So this campaign is going to be a little bit different than our last. Our goal is to make the dreams of 3 children come true this holiday season but we want to feature the kids that we have helped so far.
We are calling this campaign, - Holiday Adaptive Bike Giveaway, THEN to NOW!
Shhhhhhh… we have some really great surprises throughout this campaign!
Over the next few weeks we are going to tell you the stories of all the kids that received adaptive bikes since our first surprise delivery in 2009. We have reached out to all of their parents asking each one of them what it was like when their child was surprised with their adaptive bike and what it has done for them and their family. As we were talking to some of the parents one thing became apparent, these kids are already outgrowing their bikes.
One day a few months ago Rosie’s parents came into The Bike Rack with Rosie’s bike. Since it no longer fit her they wanted to make sure another child was able to use her bike and experience the same joy that Rosie had. We told them Rosie needs a bigger bike now and we wanted to help them out. Rosie's mom said that they had already been given enough and just wanted to pay it forward and let another family go through this type of experience with their child. Wow, what an amazing family!
Recently we found out from a family friend that Rosie doesn’t understand what happened to her bike, stay tuned for more of Rosie's story.
But for now please help us be able to surprise some very deserving children this holiday season.
Donate to our "THEN to NOW" campaign, even if it’s just a dollar. If you can’t donate then please share our campaign to help us reach our goal, to bring the freedom of mobility to some children!
Remember, if we reach our goal, 3 children will be surprised starting on Christmas Eve.
We can’t tell too much in order to keep our secrets a surprise!!
So keep checking our updates DONATE and SHARE today!
Shhhhhhh... you never know where the Project Mobility Crew will show up. It could be us knocking at your door !!
Imagine being 8 years old and looking out your front window as all the kids in the neighborhood are riding their bikes down the street, you couldn't join them, until now...
It was Christmas Eve in 2009, the snow was coming down as our caravan of people were driving to a house in Geneva to help us surprise a special little girl named Rosie.
We will never forget that day, we had the Chicago news stations from CBS, ABC, and NBC filming us as we all went up to their front door wearing Santa Hats as the neighbors were peeking out there windows.
We always get some of the most amazing reactions, but this time something was different...
Rosie’s mom and dad were in tears as she pedaled a bike for the first time, it was Tommy her older brother who brought tears to the eyes of over 40 adults, even the TV crews were all choked up. He looked at all of us and said, now Rosie doesn’t have to watch out the window as we ride our bikes, she can ride with us! Not a dry eye in the house! It was just an awesome moment!
Many of you may know the story behind our Holiday Adaptive Bike Giveways, but for those of you who don’t here is a little back story...
Project Mobility’s Holiday Adaptive Bike Giveaway started in 2009 with a 10 year old girl named Riley. Her mom, Lynn, was looking to buy her husband a bicycle at The Bike Rack and came across the Hallmark Hero video featuring Project Mobility. What Lynn didn’t know was that Riley was also watching that video behind her. She turned around and saw Riley with tears in her eyes and she said, “Mom I am going to get a bike like that for a child this Christmas.” Lynn explained how expensive the bikes were and asked her how she could do that.
Riley set off on her mission to surprise a child with disabilities with a $4,000 adaptive bike. She took the family Christmas card list and sent a letter to each person on there. She said she would like them to donate money to Project Mobility instead of buying her a gift. Not only did Riley raise enough money to surprise one child with an adaptive bike, but she actually raised enough to surprise 3 children!
So here we are 7 years later, Riley is a senior in high school and has grown up to be as amazing of a young lady, as we knew she would be.
Then Tommy came along...
Tommy is Rosie's older brother, he is the young man in the video selling suckers to help Riley raise money to get bikes for kids! That little boy has grown up to be such an amazing young man. Tommy isn't selling suckers any more but he helps at just about every fundraiser we do, we can always count on Tommy. Not only can we count on Tommy, but Mom, Dad, and most of all Rosie are there to support us!
Not only do we bring the freedom of mobility to so many children but we have made some wonderful friends along the way. Like many of the families we have surprised over the years, they want to keep paying it forward.
So this campaign is going to be a little bit different than our last. Our goal is to make the dreams of 3 children come true this holiday season but we want to feature the kids that we have helped so far.
We are calling this campaign, - Holiday Adaptive Bike Giveaway, THEN to NOW!
Shhhhhhh… we have some really great surprises throughout this campaign!
Over the next few weeks we are going to tell you the stories of all the kids that received adaptive bikes since our first surprise delivery in 2009. We have reached out to all of their parents asking each one of them what it was like when their child was surprised with their adaptive bike and what it has done for them and their family. As we were talking to some of the parents one thing became apparent, these kids are already outgrowing their bikes.
One day a few months ago Rosie’s parents came into The Bike Rack with Rosie’s bike. Since it no longer fit her they wanted to make sure another child was able to use her bike and experience the same joy that Rosie had. We told them Rosie needs a bigger bike now and we wanted to help them out. Rosie's mom said that they had already been given enough and just wanted to pay it forward and let another family go through this type of experience with their child. Wow, what an amazing family!
Recently we found out from a family friend that Rosie doesn’t understand what happened to her bike, stay tuned for more of Rosie's story.
But for now please help us be able to surprise some very deserving children this holiday season.
Donate to our "THEN to NOW" campaign, even if it’s just a dollar. If you can’t donate then please share our campaign to help us reach our goal, to bring the freedom of mobility to some children!
Remember, if we reach our goal, 3 children will be surprised starting on Christmas Eve.
We can’t tell too much in order to keep our secrets a surprise!!
So keep checking our updates DONATE and SHARE today!