Bikes For Books
GETTING YOUR LODGE STARTED IN THE BIKES FOR BOOKS PROGRAM
Bikes for Books is really easy to set up. Hermanos del Arte Lodge made an appointment with the Grade School Principal and laid out our program. We had in mind to have the kids read and report on 10 books. For every book and report they finished the student would be given a ticket with their name on it and this ticket would be placed in the drawing. The Brewster Grade School Principal had a better idea. He said most Grade Schools in Washington State use a program called Accelerated Reading Program. This program has a goal setting chart which awards points as the students reach their goal. When a certain number of points were achieved the student would then be entered into the drawing. In our small school we had 107 students qualify for the drawing. A drawing is held each trimester with a boy and girls bike presented. Our local program involves grades K-6.
This is how we do it in Brewster but other lodges who are involved in Bikes for Books use other methods for kids to qualify. The best approach I feel is to speak with the Grade School Principal and find out what would work best for your local school. Mr. Eric Driessen, Principal of Brewster Grade School, is so sold on Bikes for Books he has volunteered to help other schools set up the program in their school. Mr. Driessen can be reach at: 509-689-2581.
HdA purchases their bikes at Wal Mart. We buy a boy and a girl’s bike for each drawing. Wal Mart gives us a discount and we usually spend around $85.00 for the two bikes. I just received an email from VWB Steve Guffy stating that Wal Mart had donated 4 bikes to Riverside Lodge in Wenatchee for their Bikes for Books program. It would pay to contact the Wal Mart in your area to see if they would be willing to discount or donate bikes for your program. HdA obtained permission to use the Square and Compasses on all our posters and for the display at the school. The bikes in Brewster are placed in the lobby of the grade school and a large poster was made by the school stating what the bikes were for and that the Masons had donated the bikes. We are also giving 2 bikes to the Brewster Public Library for the libraries summer reading program. Needless to say we have one very excited and happy librarian at the Brewster Public Library.
That's Bikes for Books in a nutshell. If you have any questions or if I can be of any assistance to you, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Fraternally,
Bill R. Wood