Students buy bikes for disabled classmates

Students at Robert Moore School here have raised enough money to buy customized bicycles for two disabled classmates.
“Not only did we raise enough money to buy Holly [Olson] a bike but we raised enough to buy William [Moody] one, too,” said support worker Rhonda Howells, who helped organize the fundraising.
The grade five class of teacher Al Holt began the fundraising campaign to purchase a bike for Olson, 12, who suffers from muscular dystrophy, a degenerative muscle disease.
They were able to raise the $2,600 for her and exceeded their goal by over $4,400–allowing them to purchase a $2,900 hand-propelled bike for six-year-old Moody, who was born with spina bifida.
Olson’s parents and Moody’s mom were at Robert Moore thanking the students for their efforts last Thursday.
“I think she’s real excited. She’s always wanted to go on a bike ride with her sister,” said Olson’s father, Doug.
The students in Olson’s class brainstormed for fundraising ideas. A small amount of money was made on ticket sales throughout the school for prize bags but most was raised through pledges collected by the students for a skate-a-thon April 6.
“Primarily we have had the most incredible response, all kinds of organizations have contributed,” said Howells.
The three classes that raised the most money were awarded a pop and pizza party courtesy of Pizza Hut, and the individual students who raised the most were rewarded with Dairy Queen vouchers.
The fundraising was led by Olson’s classmates, who raised the most in the school.
“I want to thank the whole school, and especially this class. You did an excellent job and Mr. Holt and Mrs. Howells . . . I think this is marvelous,” said Moody’s mother, Kelly Calder, who was surprised when told the students had raised enough money to also buy her son a bike.
“When I found out, what did I do? Cry,” she told Howells. “It’s like a dream come true.”
Olson will receive her new bike within the next two weeks while Moody will receive a custom-made bike in the fall.
Not all the pledges have been collected so the final total has not been counted. But at least $7,100 has been raised and the leftover funds after the purchase of the new bikes will be used to improve the school’s facilities for the disabled.
“There’s a lot of special needs children in the school so we thought we could make things a little more bearable for them,” Holt said.