17th CSSB supports Anchorage’s 50 Bikes for 50 Kids

  • Published
  • By Nicole Finkelstein
  • 17th CSSB FRSA
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  Soldiers from the 17th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion helped local children build their own bicycles Jan. 16 at the Anchorage Park and Recreation department's 50 Bikes for 50 Kids event.

The Anchorage Parks and Recreation hosted the program on Martin Luther King Day at the Spenard Recreation Center.

The 50 Bikes for 50 Kids program gives children unassembled bikes, which are then put together with the volunteer assistance of community members, including Soldiers from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson's 17th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion.

Recipients are chosen from the various community organizations who nominated them. They must demonstrate the "Six Pillars of Character" set forth by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

These principles are: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship.

Jeremy Carson, one of the local children who received a bike, told his volunteer helpers that it was the fourth bike that he will own.

Jeremy's father, Richard, explained that Jeremy's last bicycle was stolen from the front of his house.

After the bikes were built, the children moved to the final station where they received a bike helmet, a map of the Anchorage bike paths and a card on which they detailed their lifelong dreams.

The cards were to be placed inside each bike's seat post, to ensure no matter where the children go on their bikes, their dreams go with them.