MAYOR PRESENTS 32 BIKES TO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

Manchester: Thursday June 4: Manchester Mayor, Ted Gatsas presented 32 bikes to students at the Bakersfield and Beech Street Elementary Schools at two separate ceremonies promoting the Bikes for Books Project.

This initiative by Manchester’s Washington Lodge #61, that promoted the reading project and donated the bikes, was widely praised by the Mayor, the Superintendent, Principals and Teachers! But the ones that love it most were the kids!

As Mayor Gatsas addressed hundreds of elementary schools students and the school communities at each school, eager youngsters waited to see if they were the lucky bike winners! Sixteen bikes were given out at each school.

In some case students read over one million words – and one student read 170 books! The two elementary schools have student populations where nearly 90% of the children come from families living under the poverty level.

“This was a marvelous effort and reflected the commitment of Washington Lodge to the Manchester community”, said Mayor Gatsas. Then with a smile added, “Now I hope you can do it for all of our fourteen elementary schools next year!”

The Washington Lodge Bikes for Books Project Director, Patrick van Rooyen commented on the team effort by the Lodge in making the initiative successful. “This was a real team effort by Lodge members and the community and the faces of these young kids was all the thanks we needed — and the motivation to do it again!”