Meet Carrine, one of our long time students and early adopter of our Bike Armada program. When Carrine was a first grader she was tall for her age and not very confident. With Kids Co. nurture, Carrine is an avid cyclist! In her words, “I did not know how to ride a 2-wheeler and all the big kids did, so I wanted to learn, but every time I tried, I fell back down! So one day I came to one of the Kids Co. teachers named Ms. Maren, and she taught me how. Anyway, I threw on the bright yellow helmet and got on the bike. The first few times didn’t go well. She said ‘try to pedal this time.’ So she started pushing me and let go! On the third try, with a little practice, I DID IT.”

Like many children of working parents, Carrine and her brother and sister spend as many of their waking hours in childcare as they do in school. Their mother was able to get them bikes, but with the long hours she needed to work to support her three children, she did not have the time or space to teach her kids how to ride. Having a bike in her summer camp and supportive teachers made all the difference!

Your support made it possible for Carrine to fall down, pick herself up, and ride a bike!

John Benner
Program Manager, Kids Co. at South Shore

Let me tell you about Maurice (Mo-Mo)–a kindergartener in our South Shore program. He comes from a family where both parents work. Even with a double income, having twins (he has a twin brother, Kevin) makes it difficult to ensure ends meet. To off-set the financial barrier, he and his brother receive tuition assistance from Kids Co. This has made it possible for him to learn, play, and grow as a person.

While Mo-Mo has a bike at home, he rarely has enough time to really practice riding yet at Kids Co. he has full reign. When he started our bike program, he did not know how to ride. After many playground laps on the bike with the training wheels, Ms. Iyonna coached Mo-Mo on our smallest 2-wheeler (aka Lil’ Scrapper) and with about 20 minutes of wobbly practice, he was training wheel free. Mo-Mo describes it like this: “Ms. Iyonna taught me how to ride a bike. It was tricky at first and then I started getting better and better. Now it’s fun to ride on a bike!”

Thank you so much! Your contribution to our Kids Co. Bike Armada enables us to continue our work of teaching children the joys and safety skills of riding a bicycle.

Your donation makes stories like this possible. Your support of the kids means a lot to many!

John Benner
Program Manager, Kids Co. at South Shore

I would like to introduce you to my friend Chukundi who you helped learn how to ride a bike through your donation to Kids Co. Just moments before I took this picture, Julian Matthews, one of our Kids Co. teachers, was helping stabilize him and then–pow!–Chukundi just took off on his own!  It was a magical moment that I hope I captured in this photo for you.  Though only in kindergarten, Chukundi has already made lots of great Kids Co. memories. You might be interested to know that yesterday he told me that one of his favorite Kids Co. days was the long walk to Seward Park where he got to see bugs.  Maybe someday soon he will get to ride a bike there.

Thanks for helping this little boy master the art of bike riding!