Kiwanis continues providing bicycle helmets to third graders

The Red Oak Kiwanis Club continues its tradition of providing extra safety to grade school bicycle riders.
On April 12, Kiwanis President Kim Truka, and members Kylie Bowen and Wayne Donohue fitted and donated bicycle helmets for the third grade classes at Inman Elementary. The program was started by Donohue, a charter member of the Red Oak Kiwanis. Donohue owned a bike shop and knew of the importance of safety when riding a bike. In the first year, the group partnered with the Red Oak Optimists Club, but have since taken over handling the event themselves.
Donohue said the program is as important today as it was when he started it more than two decades ago.
“It’s very rewarding to see it still thriving through the Kiwanis all these years later. In fact, there have been occasions where within a week or two after the fittings, one of the kids had a bike accident. You just never know,” said Donohue. “When I first started, I was buying them and fitting them through my shop. Since then, they have implemented programs specifically for this kind of thing.”
During the event, Donohue shared a story about how he was saved by a helmet from being injured more than once. Donohue stressed that helmets are instrumental for bicycle safety no matter the circumstance.
“I remember one kid who said he rode carefully and didn’t need a helmet. Even people who are riding very safely slowly need to wear a helmet. My last accident was in a race in Illinois. We were coming up to a loop like we have at the high school. I was rounding a curve in a light rain and wiped out. I was only going five miles an hour at the time, and there had been new asphalt laid in that area. I was the fourth rider to fall in that same spot,” advised Donohue. “When you fall, your head can hit just as hard on the pavement going five miles an hour as it does when you’re going even faster. A lot of people think you have to be riding carelessly or fast to have an accident, and that just isn’t so. You can have a fall just from making an unexpected stop.”
Donohue added there was a specific reason why they selected the third grade age students to receive the helmets.
“Usually by third grade, most kids have bicycles, though not all. Also, we have given bicycles away to families that don’t have them,” said Donohue.
Truka said she became involved with the program to help out Donohue, and then took over the program when Donohue wished to retire. The process, Truka said, has become much more streamlined.
“Helmets are different today than they used to be. In the past, we had to spend a day measuring everybody, and then order the specific helmets. Now they have a variety of features to modify them from a small to a large. We also look back every year and see how many we used and go from there. We’ve gotten to the point now where we can provide the helmets and the fittings in one day, and we go from extra small to extra large, because everyone is different. Anything we have left over we can store for use the following year,” explained Truka.
In addition to the helmets, the kids were provided cookies and stickers. Truka said it was very special to see their joy.
“Usually, they’re very excited, and some of them have never had a bicycle helmet. It’s nice for them to be able to get a helmet fitted to their head, as sometimes the kids who have one had it passed down from a brother or a sister. This gives them the chance to have their own helmet, and then they can use the stickers to decorate it the way they want it to look,” Truka stated.
Another reason behind including the stickers is due to the fact that the newer helmets have less variety.
“The helmets now are somewhat pricey so we try to go with bigger companies, and sometimes we only get one or two colors. The stickers help make the helmet their own,” Truka said.
Also present during the event were Jamie Werges and Sara Orme, who were part of the Inman third grade class when Donohue first started donating the helmets and doing fittings. Donohue and Kiwanis member Bryant Blay made the suggestion to invite Werges and Orme to the event this year.
Werges said it was a great feeling to participate in the event 25 years later.
“It’s so wonderful, and I thank the Kiwanis for doing this event for 25 years. I can remember wearing my helmet in that grade, and I enjoyed talking to the kids and seeing how excited they were. It’s a wonderful program, and it definitely promotes safety. It was cool to see it through the eyes of the kids, and I hope I was that excited when I was fitted,” commented Werges.
Orme was also pleased to be invited to take part in this year’s event and said the experience was quite rewarding.
“It was great to see it 25 years later, and see the excitement on the kids’ faces when they were getting fitted and dressing up their helmets with stickers. I’ll be excited to see them riding around town,” stated Orme.
Anyone wishing to donate to next year’s helmet project can mail a check to the Kiwanis or give cash to a member. The money is deposited in a specific account for the helmet purchase. Truka said she usually purchases the helmets in January of each year.