No one really had to reinvent the wheel for this particular contest. In fact, it spun off from one good deed and picked up motion from there.
The Friendship Circle of Michigan recently donated 145 bicycles—the majority of them adapted in specific ways—to children with special needs throughout the United States, two-thirds of whom are not Jewish. To do so, it partnered with 10 large bike companies, each of which donated two bikes to the contest.
“Providing adaptive bikes to children with special needs can provide a sense of belonging, inclusion and confidence,” said Rabbi Tzvi Schectman, family coordinator at the Friendship Circle who directs the program. ”By riding a bike with their families and friends, children with special needs can experience freedom and joy.”
The Chabad-Lubavitch-run organization created the bike donation program four years ago in honor of Michaela Noam Kaplan, who was a participant there. She passed away in her sleep in 2009 at the age of 5. It is in her memory that the contest is named “The Michaela Noam Kaplan Great Bike Giveaway.”
“Despite her physical limitations due to cerebral palsy, Michaela adored life, traveled the world, went to school—and loved her adaptive bicycle,” recounted her parents, suburban Detroit residents Gabriella Burman and Adam Kaplan. “While this therapeutic benefit was important to us, being on the bike also meant that she could be a kid, too, and that we as her parents could celebrate those precious moments with her.”
Michaela’s spastic quadriplegia did not allow her muscles to move fluidly on their own, explained her parents, but she was able to pedal on the bike, strengthening and increasing flexibility in her legs and hips.
Manufacturers of special-needs equipment build adaptive bicycles with proper head and chest supports, harnesses, foot plates and Velcro strapping to keep a child safe while riding. Medical insurance companies, however, do not cover their very high cost (they are often considered “recreational” as opposed to “therapeutic”); the child-sized apparatuses can cost as much as $5,000.
Schectman explained that “the Rebbe’s [Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory] unconditional love of people knew no bounds. To the Rebbe, they all belonged, and he made them feel at home. The Rebbe taught us that one mitzvah could have a far-ranging effect. This amazing story clearly demonstrates the Rebbe’s message. One person’s good deed led to hundreds of children with special needs receiving special bikes.”
‘Cannot Afford to Buy Them’
Friendship Circle, with hundreds of locations around the country, is a nonprofit organization that provides programs and support to the families of individuals with special needs, bringing together teenage volunteers and children with special needs.
The bicycle program has grown steadily, starting with 18 bikes given away during the first effort in 2011. This year, some 1,870 people registered for the contest from every U.S. state, versus 153 registrants the first year.
While adaptive bikes can run from $300 to $5,000, the average bike given away in the contest was priced at about $2,000.
“Families of special-needs children have a lot of therapies and expenses,” explained Schectman. “Insurance doesn’t pay for bikes. Parents just cannot afford to buy them.”
As part of the contest, which was publicized mainly on social media and through word of mouth, families chose bikes that best suited their children—for example, “Mobo Cruisers,” “Buddy Bikes,” Striders,” “Triaids”—then entered that contest by submitting a photo and description of the child, and why he or she needs an adaptive bike.
Each individual needed 50 votes to be entered into a drawing. The child with the most votes in each category received a bike, as well as one selected by the drawing.
Families solicited votes and donations to go towards a particular category for their children; that gave the Friendship Circle the ability to add more bikes to the categories.
In all, more than 6,000 donors participated.
According to the Friendship Circle, the real beauty of the annual contest is not only being able to give away so many bikes; equally important is the awareness it raises.
“People have no idea that it’s such a crucial need for a family,” said Schectman. “It really resonates with them. Even if they don’t win, they may end up getting a bike anyway because of the generosity of family or friends. “The organic growth is tremendous.”
In fact, of the final tally, at least 100 bikes were given away as a direct result of donations sent in by those voting for and giving to the contestants.
‘Keep the Tradition Going’
The giveaway was born from an initial mitzvah and then a desire to “pay it forward.” It all started with a phone call to the Friendship Circle in the summer of 2011 from an individual who wanted to give a bicycle to a needy child because he himself had once been one.
Donor Mikhail Reytsman came over with his family from Russia as part of a refugee program; the Jewish community helped them resettle in the United States. An anonymous individual donated a brand-new bicycle to be given to a refugee child, and he turned out to be the recipient.
“Somehow, I got volunteered for that,” recalled Reytsman, now an engineer for the Ford Motor Company who lives in Ann Arbor, Mich.
“I picked a bike, and he told me his story: When he was a little kid, he really wanted a bike and couldn’t afford one. One day, his stepfather just presented him with a bike out of nowhere as a gift. That was the highlight of his childhood. That bike allowed him to go anywhere. He could visit his friends. And so, he promised himself that before the age of 30, he would return the favor and give another kid a bike, but he got sick and wasn’t able to.
“Finally, he had enough money and enough time, and he wanted to make sure that somebody got a bike. That turned out to be me. The only condition was that I promise that before I turn 30, I would give someone else a bike as well: It’s important to keep the tradition going.
“It was started by his stepfather, and he asked me to continue. Never heard from him again, never saw him again, never knew his name, but his only request was to make sure that the tradition keeps going. Four years ago, when I was getting close to 30, it was time for me to give somebody a bike, because I promised that gentleman. I started asking around, ‘Is there anybody who would actually want a bike?’ I asked one of my neighbors, who replied, ‘Check with the Friendship Circle. Maybe they would be interested.’
“So I called the Friendship Circle, and they said: ‘Yes, it sounds interesting.”
History was made. Administrators called Reytsman back, telling him “we just started a huge bike giveaway.”
“I learned that you can turn something into a bigger tradition,” he said. “To me, it is this amazing story about how one guy so many years ago got a small gift from his stepfather and created a ripple effect well into the future.”
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