One R-FH Student's Drive to Get Sandy-Afflicted Kids Biking Again

Fair Havenite Matt Dell wants to give some Hurricane Sandy-afflicted kids a free ride — on their own nearly new bicycles.

The Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School junior was driven to spearhead a cause to get bicycles to those who lost them as a result of Sandy.

As Dell sees it, his mission is a means to make use of unused bikes sitting around or cluttering garages and sheds while giving area kids an opportunity to help their peers.

"This is a way for kids in our towns to help kids who lost their bikes in Sandy," he said. "In Fair Haven especially, since the Youth Center is not on a busy street and kids ride their bikes everywhere, kids can help other kids by riding the bikes they no longer need to the Youth Center and walking home or having their parents pick them up, or cleaning up the bikes their families can donate."

The bikes are slated to go to children in especially hard Sandy-hit areas, where personal loss in the area was the most devastating — Sea Bright, Monmouth Beach and Union Beach.

They will be collected in three spots on Sunday, April 28: Fair Haven Youth Center, 35 Fisk Street, or the parking lot of Coldwell Banker at 1 West River Road, Rumson, from 9 to 11 a.m.; and at Monmouth Beach Bathing Pavillion (Little Monmouth) from 10 a.m. to noon.

We are hoping to get 100 or more bikes for the kids who need them."
The bikes, asked to be in working, good condition, may be brought directly to any of the three sites on Sunday.

But, if you know you will donate, Dell says "it would help if you would send an email to sandybikedrive@gmail.com so the volunteers know how many bikes to expect."

The collections will be held rain or shine.