West Broadway School Kids Bike Donation

It seems odd to be posting photos of kids riding in mittens and jackets on the first 80-ish degree day of the year, but we've been busy here at Roll It Forward. But busy here is a good thing. Busy means more people on bikes. This donation happened in South Boston on April 31st 2011, just a day after the donation at Orient Heights in East Boston. Come to think of it, why were kids wearing jackets and mittens on April 31st? Well, because it was unseasonably cold and eventually, sleety. It would be nice to say that the dampness didn't put a damper on the festivities, but that was not the case. As the sleet began to fall, people began to scatter. At one point, late in the event, one kid refused a bike. His dad asked him why, "THIS ONE'S WET!" he replied. After he finished laughing, the kid's dad told him he could fix that, no problem. 

More photos after the break...

Nate sizes up the gap to the truck..."If I come up short, it'll be covered my workmen's comp right? Right?" Luckily he realized that he wasn't wearing his helmet and decided to abstain from an act of de facto premeditated self harm. Like we teach the kids — don't jump your bike off a loading dock into a truck without your helmet on, safety first!

Helmet fitting is a HUGE part of these events. 

This little guy is either about to get sized for a bike, or he is performing an incredibly low-altitude tail whip. 

A whole lot of matching going on. It's like it was meant to be. 

 

Then the rain came. 

Despite the weather, enough people showed up that rain-checks were necessary. But there was no place to write them out without the paper turning to a soggy, illegible mess. A fold out table from our partners at Pedro's came in handy as a temporary rain-check-writing-shelter. 

After an hour or so of adjusting helmets and saddles in the "snrain," our volunteers' hands were the color of Smurfs and about ready to fall off. A cocoa run saved the day. Probably the last Roll It Forward donation of the year where cocoa will be necessary. We hope. 

C'mon! Really? That's just not fair.