Keep it Real Wednesday
In gratitude for 2021
January 5, 2022
The blessing bike team would like to take this time to THANK YOU for all your love and support in 2021.
TOGETHER, we did great things. Even with cancer, six months of chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant, we somehow managed to produce THIRTY blessing bikes in 2021, all as all volunteers in our garage.
Some highlights…
TWO Blessing BIKES rode on the Hiawatha Trail in Northern Idaho. This was a big first step in helping to make the trail accessible for those with disabilities. Kudos to the youth group in Nampa who insisted on finding ways to help all of their members participate despite physical barriers. Thank you to the family and group who allowed the youth group to borrow a blessing bike. You are exceptional people!
A Home Health and Hospice Agency secured a blessing bike so they could help brighten the day for their patients. I can only imagine how much joy that bike will bring.
16 families in the treasure valley received a Blessing Bike scholarship thanks to your support and donations which made these scholarships possible. Your gifts created smiles upon smiles.
5 more nursing homes now have blessing bikes to help their residents enjoy the outdoors and provide meaningful time for their staff and residents. YAY!
Although most bikes stay in Idaho, one family drove from MICHIGAN to get a bike, one from South Dakota and Special Olympics in Georgia now has a blessing bike.
The youngest blessing bike recipient was 6 years old and the oldest was 92 with a full array of ages and abilities in between.
Just when we were not sure how we could support the next family or order another set of bikes, a path would open for us. Thank you to all the community groups, corporations and families who sought us out with your generous financial support. We are overwhelmed with gratitude.
To the hundreds of CAREGIVERS who have contacted us with your stories, YOU ARE HEROES, and it is your stories that motivate us to continue to build bikes, one by one.
10 more bikes will be arriving in the next few weeks and it is our hope to get back on that bike saddle and start helping more families in 2022 very, very soon.
Standby……. more to come!
(Pictured: Board Members: Linda and Eric Pitzer, Jill and Wade Houser and honorary board member and inspiration behind the Blessing Bike, Rosemary Sorce)
