Make no mistake, it was a hot Thursday afternoon.
Pretty near 100 in the feel-like category despite the early evening shadows that filled some of what was once a railroad track bed.
Eight middle school age children, four adults setting out on a journey of 20 miles.
On bicycles.
The Greenville Hospital System Swamp Rabbit Trail was their guide. They left before 7 p.m. from Linky Stone Park in downtown Greenville.
It wasn’t long before some of the girls started struggling physically.
“My legs are burning.”
“My knees hurt.”
“I feel like a loser because I’m in the back.”
David Taylor, one of the adults, shot right back, “I knew when I met you you were a great person. This isn’t a race. You’re going to get through it.”
Pedals whirred. The miles passed.
Along the way, walkers and joggers shouted encouragement.
They asked about the group.
It was the Building Dreams Bike Club, the walkers were told.
What wasn’t said was one child had been in a Department of Juvenile Justice facility. The fathers of some were in prison. All lived in homes where their mother was the only parent.
The bikes they rode were paid for with funds raised by the Furman University Diversity Institute, a statewide program to jump start the conversation among community leaders about the issues that separate us – the differences in cultural background, language, gender, physical ability.
Great Escape offered good deals and support for what would have been $400 bikes to anyone else. Trek Navigators 1.0. Taylor bought one for himself.
The Sterling Center selected the kids. The group has been meeting since early summer.
St. Frances Hospital sent folks to talk about wellness and exercise. A community cop who rides a bike for work described the rules of the road for bikes.
Clemson University’s Building Dreams program facilitated it all.
And Greenville Spinners bike club educated them on bike safety and led the Thursday ride and several others as well.
When the group eased into Travelers Rest, they stopped at the convenience store across from Sunrift Adventures.
“We just rode 10 miles,” Taylor called out.
“We don’t get this far in our car,” one child said.
And there it was, the underlying reason for this and so many wonderful programs for children who don’t have all the benefits life can offer.
Raising aspirations. Showing the children worlds beyond their own. Building dreams, which by the way, is the name of Taylor’s program, a part of Clemson’s Institute on Family and Neighborhood Life. Building Dreams works with children with at least one parent in prison.
“This gave them the opportunity to explore, to take off and be exuberant,” Taylor said.
Once the summer’s over, a ceremony will be held to give the children the bicycles to take home. This fall, they’re going to do a service project of some sort, perhaps raise money for cancer research. To give back to the community. To do something for others.
It took them about two and a half hours to complete the ride to TR and back to Greenville. Everyone made it.
“It was wonderful seeing the joy on their faces when they actually did it,” Taylor said.
Bikes loaded back up, children driven home.
And one child asked, enthusiasm fully in gear, “Where are we going next?”
Tags: Lyn Riddle
