Happy First Day Of School Central Florida!
Hopefully, it’s been a fun summer full of bike riding, late summer evening walks, picnics and more. This morning moms and dads all over Central Florida kissed their kiddos goodbye and sent them off with a backpack full of fresh, new supplies.
Here at Bike/Walk Central Florida, we’re taking a breather… Much like Santa’s elves at Christmas, we’ve been hard at work preparing children to go back to school. We’ve been equipping them with shiny new bike helmets and great safety information for those trips to and from school. We joined with local commissioners and community groups from around the region at some awesome events designed to help students and their families prepare for school. In the past few weeks, we’ve attended EIGHT events. Did you spot us at any?
We pride ourselves on the many ways we contribute to our communities, especially around back-to-school time. Here are the top three things we’ve done that have hopefully helped your kid prepare for class:
- Anyone need a helmet?
Your kids need to protect their noggins for school, and we’re here to help! If you didn’t happen to see our nametags, our piles of helmets probably gave us away at some Central Florida back-to-school events.
We had a double header (see what I did there?) on July 27 with two events to attend. We started our day early at Barnett Park at Commissioner Victoria Siplin’s A Family Wellness Affair. Our staff came ready to work, and oh, did they work. Within an hour and a half, they’d already fitted our entire supply of intended for the event – that’s over 80 heads protected! Then, they packed up and did the same thing at Commissioner Emily Bonilla’s Wellness Fair at Goldenrod, where they fitted another 90+ helmets.
We decided to one-up ourselves on August 3 at the John H. Bridges Back-to-School Fair, where we distributed an additional 100+ helmets to the community members there. We celebrated back to school with Commissioner Maribel Gomez Cordero at her Back-to-School Fair on August 10th, giving away another almost 100 helmets. Yes, you counted right: that’s almost 400 helmets gifted in just two weeks.
Let’s just say we’re running a little low on our supplies now… But don’t worry, we’ll replenish our stock soon!
- Let’s party… with safety tips!
When we aren’t passing out helmets, you can probably find us dispensing words of wisdom about street safety – one of our favorite hobbies! Did you see us at the Kissimmee Back-to-School Block Party on August 3? We’ll give you a hint… we were the table with the wheel you spin to get a safety prize! Over 600 people attended the event, and we were ecstatic to talk with so many of them.
Even at the events where we give out helmets, we ALWAYS make time to talk with attendees about tips and tricks for biking and walking. No matter the day, there’s always time for safety!
- Talk the talk, and walk the walk!
We love putting our safety advice into action and demonstrating exactly what that means with any audience (especially the young ones).
On August 5 and 6, we took a road trip to the Children’s Safety Village to meet up with some Orlando campers. The campus features fully functional stoplights, pedestrian walking signals and a railroad arm, so children can put their safety knowledge to the test without any real-life danger. The kids did GREAT during our lessons… perhaps we found some BWCF advocates in the making?
On Day 2, we received a special visit from the Orlando Fire Rescue Department, which really blew the kids’ minds – and our staff’s! The firefighters demonstrated what to do in the case of a fire, ending with an incredible display of their powerful hoses.
Within the two days, we hope the kids collected even knowledge to last them a lifetime of safety.
