Finding Delight
The Great Bike Give-Away of 2020
Delight has been a little hard to come by in 2020. But that’s what Pat Gorman, the Director of Jesus Mary Joseph (JMJ) Home, felt as she watched her clients zipping around on e-bikes in the Community Foundation’s parking lot.
“This is like a hundred Christmases at once!”
- Client at Jesus Mary Joseph Home
We connect resources to needs
Earlier this fall, an anonymous donor, in collaboration with Bell Helmets, asked the Community Foundation if we could facilitate gifting 50 e-bikes, helmets, and chargers to local nonprofit organizations. The donor felt that each bike could make a bigger impact if the nonprofits created a lending program so that staff, clients, and volunteers could all use them.
Our job at the Community Foundation is to help donors put their generosity to work. That can come in the form of advising on tax smart giving options, matching donors’ passions to charitable needs...or helping give away bikes. We are here to make your philanthropic dreams come true.
Increased mobility, increased opportunity
JMJ Home was one of 15 nonprofits selected to receive the e-bikes. Others included Monarch Services, Walnut Avenue Family and Women’s Center, and the Transition Age Youth program at Encompass, serving foster youth.
Gorman reports that the bikes have already been a huge asset to the JMJ Home community. “Our residents and staff are able to run errands around town, look for housing and go to job interviews, just to name a few uses we have already found for them.”
JMJ has long been committed to environmental stewardship and is happy to have reliable mobility without adding more cars to the road. “Being able to be outdoors and enjoy nature are huge components as to why we love the bikes so much. They are also a tremendous amount of fun!”
Hope Rides
We want to thank our donor and Bell Helmets for seeing an opportunity to do good, and partnering with us to get it done. To the moms better able to job hunt, the MediCal clients better able to get to health visits, and the young people finding their way on a new set of wheels, here’s to safe and happy riding in 2021.
