Prisoners refurbish bicycles for needy children
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Tue December 30 2008
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Posted Dec 30, 2008
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ROCKWELL CITY
By IAN SCHMIT Messenger staff writer
Area tykes receive bikes
A mix of offenders, bikers, parents and kids gathered inside the North Central Correctional Facility recreation center Sunday afternoon to celebrate Christmas as part of the Rockwell City facility's annual Bikes for Tykes event.
The program takes in dozens of bicycles every year, which are then refurbished by NCCF offenders and given away as Christmas presents to kids who need them.
"It's important to most of the kids here who wouldn't get much of Christmas present otherwise," said Larry Rainer, Captain of NCCF security and the program's main organizer. "Plus it gives these guys a sense of satisfaction that they're not just the dredges of society. It gives them a little bit of a sense of worth that they can accomplish something and do some good."
The Bike for Tykes program was created by Rainer more than eight years ago with the help and collaboration of numerous non-profit organizations including Upper Des Moines Opportunity Inc. and A Brotherhood Aimed Towards Education, District 10 - a motorcycle enthusiast and rights organization.
"I and another officer that used to work here came up with the idea to do something good for kids and we settled on the bikes," Rainer said. "We did some research into it and found there was a very strong interest among the offenders to do it, and we just kind of jumped into it and started looking for bikes to fix up."
Donations of bikes come in from supporters including the Lion's Club, ABATE, the cities of Fort Dodge and Rockwell City, local police departments and individuals.
Money needed for repair items such as new tires and chains comes from the support of ABATE and the Insiders organization, a group of NCCF offenders who raise money through auctioning off items offenders wouldn't normally be privileged to, such as pies, cookies and other treats.
"This has always been Larry's baby, we just support it 100 percent," said D.L. Peterson, assistant coordinator of ABATE, District 10.
The offenders working with the Bikes for Tykes program start refurbishing the bikes in early October and keep working until late December. This year they were able to refurbish about 60 old bikes into new Christmas gifts.
"It's just a good thing to do for the kids. We work on them almost every night," said Nicholas Callahan, an offender working in the program. "There's maybe once a week we might not go down there, but otherwise it's a nightly thing."
Kids become enrolled in Bikes for Tykes both from word of mouth and through the efforts of Upper Des Moines Opportunity Inc. Kids who are a part of the Upper Des Moines Opportunity's Christmas program and wished for bikes for Christmas are entered into the Bikes for Tykes program.
"I love it, and the kids love it," said Alyssa Dencklau, an organizer for Upper Des Moines Opportunity. "It's awesome, they all wanted bikes for Christmas and their parents couldn't afford it for them, and now they get their Christmas wish."
Contact Ian Schmit at (515) 573 - 2141 or ischmit@messengernews.net