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Press Release
TurningWheels for Kids Granted Holiday Wishes Hundreds of Santa’s Helpers Built 2,400 Bikes for Needy Kids on Saturday, December 11, 2010
San Jose, Calif. – December 14, 2010 – BMX riders and X-Games Gold Medalists Ryan Nyquist and Joey Garcia challenged Silicon Valley corporate execs in a tricycle race at this year’s Big Bike Build on Saturday, December 11th, 2010. In its sixth year, Big Bike Build 2010, presented by TurningWheels for Kids, brought together more than 700 volunteers to build 2,400 bikes for underprivileged kids in one day at the San Jose Convention Center’s South Hall, 435 S. Market St., San Jose. The work whistle blew at 8 a.m. with bicycle construction peaking at 11 a.m. when volunteers set down their tools to watch the first-ever Great Tricycle Race, pitting the pro-BMX riders against local all-stars including:
Nyquist and Garcia failed to make it past the qualifying round, while the wild card Barry Arata, of San Jose, took home the trophy. “We definitely weren’t in the lead,” Nyquist said. “So after that, it was all just fun and games. We rubbed a little bit. I think Joey almost flipped me over. It was good.” Nyquist has taken the Dirt Crown twice in the Dew Tour (’09 and ’10) and won 13 X-Game medals in his legendary BMX career, spanning more than 15 years. Garcia won the Gold medal at the 1996 X-Games and Bronze medals at the 1995 and 1998 X-Games. Their participation was arranged by volunteer Mathew Mardesich, president and CEO of ROG & Co., Inc., which develops action-sport terrain parks for kids. “To be honest, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen this many bikes in one place before,” Nyquist said, “and the fact that they’re giving away every single bike is fantastic. It’s going to make a lot of kids happy on Christmas morning.” Twenty children from CityTeam Ministries also participated in the Big Bike Build by helping build the bikes they would take home, along with a helmet and lock. The remaining bikes were given to more than 25 Bay Area charitable organizations for distribution. TurningWheels for Kids was the vision of Susan Runsvold, a nurse manager at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, who wanted to buy bikes at Christmas and give them to underprivileged children; children she believed might otherwise not receive any present from Santa. Runsvold began what she hoped would be a tradition of collecting money from her friends and colleagues to purchase as many bikes as possible for holiday distribution. “A bike is still the No. 1 requested item by children above an iPod, video game or anything else,” states Runsvold. “A bike provides a child with—not only health benefits—but a great deal of independence and joy.” To date, TurningWheels for Kids has raised nearly $900,000 to purchase new bikes and helmets, and it has recently started to visit local neighborhoods to assist with and teach children routine maintenance of their bikes. Thanks to two individual donors who pay all modest administrative fees, 100 percent of donations go to buying bikes and helmets. Each year, the bikes are bought in bulk, costing on average $85 for a bike and helmet, and are built by hundreds of volunteers coming together for one day of group bike construction, with thousands of children receiving a brand new bike and safety helmet. For photos from this year’s Bike Build, visit our Flickr set: http://bit.ly/gZANTB To download a photo, click on Actions > View All Sizes. TurningWheels for Kids is a program of the Valley Medical Center Foundation. For more information, visit www.turningwheelsforkids.org.
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Contact: Jodi Engle Ori Nagel
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