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Keith offered our invocation while Mary greeted us to the meeting. Lisa McFarland told us that we had volunteers signed up to help out at Salvation Army the next day and on August 31, but someone is still needed for August 24th. Keith, Mary, Ryan, Jamie, Buzz, Kathy and this writer all bragged about our peach sale and those who went above and beyond as referenced above. Kathy also told us she returned from their cruise that took them to Amsterdam, Scottland, Ireland, Norway and Iceland and thanked Keith for telling us how beautiful Iceland is, agreeing full heartedly with his assessment. Jamie Larson introduced Mike Heikes, a/k/a the "Pedal Monster" who told us about his on-going effort to provide bicycle helmets to kids. Mike's brain injury occurred in a 1997 car accident in which he was a passenger, leaving him with a serious short-term memory handicap. After completing a long recovery and rehabilitation he first felt the need to give back to the three hospitals that had been instrumental in his recovery. Then, in 1999, he started "Helmets for Kids," and has given away over 22,000 bike helmets since then. All total, Mike has raised over $400,000. When he wanted to continue his efforts, he even took out a home equity loan to finance the purchase of the helmets. He has now written a book entitled Finding Purpose in Being a Brain Injury Survivor and it is available at Lundeen's. The helmets, specially made for children, originally cost him $5 each but that price has now increased to $10. In a year he typically gives away 1000 to 2000 helmets and solicited ideas on where he could turn for donations to continue to fund this cause. At one point he was ready to stop giving away helmets but then received a poignant thank you note that made him decide to keep on going.  |
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