| Jacquielynn Floyd: Christmas rides in on teen's bikes 12/23/2000 By / The Dallas Morning News MESQUITE – Santa Claus had a flat tire on the way to last year's Christmas party at the Boys & Girls Club and couldn't make it. The staff labored to divert a hundred anxious, overwrought children while the custodian hastily pulled on the Santa suit in the men's room.
The game was up almost immediately when one canny kid pointed at the ersatz Santa and hollered, "Hey! That's just Mr. Charles!"
But they had a real Santa this year, a lovely Santa in a crimson velvet suit trimmed with snowy fur and a silky, luxuriant beard. There were refreshments and games and so many presents that everybody got to go through the toy line twice.
I went to this excellent party at the invitation of Armond Schwartz, a teenager I wrote about last spring who fixes up used bicycles for donation to needy kids. I've thought of Armond rather fondly as "the bike boy," but it doesn't really fit – he's about to graduate from high school, and he's off to Duke University next fall.
'Spokes for Folks'
Today, his backyard recycling project is a busy cottage industry, with a battalion of volunteers working in the Schwartz family's garage in University Park. To date, his project, "Spokes for Folks," has collected and restored 160 bicycles for distribution through Dallas-area Boys & Girls Clubs.
There were at least 100 kids at Thursday's party at the Mesquite branch and only 18 bikes to go around. They had to have a raffle.
The winners rushed forth to claim their prizes when their numbers were called. My hands-down favorite was an 8-year-old named Caleb, who was so thrilled that instead of making a beeline for his bike, he ran to Armond and threw his arms around him.
They made, for just a second, a perfect portrait: a disarmingly cute kid and a tall, lanky teenager, hugging in a little silent bubble of pure joy while the other excited kids swarmed past.
Brad, a sweet, skinny boy in oversized sweat pants, didn't win, despite his high hopes. He told me his folks bought him a bike at Wal-Mart last year, but it was stolen off the back porch the night they brought it home.
"They said they'd try to get me another one, but I know they have to pay bills and stuff," he said, shrugging with what seemed to me remarkably adult acceptance.
But Andre had a lucky number. They had to go fetch him from the time-out room where he had been banished for misbehaving. He stalked across the gym and took custody of his bike, his irate demeanor unimproved by his good fortune.
His brother made an insulting remark, "so I threw ice on him," Andre said, still aggrieved at the injustice of his punishment. I asked whether he was happy to have a new bike.
"Yes," he said petulantly. "But it's still not fair."
Good manners a must
Kimberly Beverly, the club's education director, confided while we were chatting that some of the kids aren't always as grateful as she would like. Some had to be prodded to thank Santa when he doled out the lavish pile of presents provided by volunteers from Hope for Kids, the church-based organization that threw the party.
I thought at first that the kids shouldn't be under an obligation to be grateful in their neediness, but Kimberly was right. All kids, rich or poor, need good manners to get along in life.
Time and effort and guidance are what counts with these kids. People willing to see they get bikes or have a Christmas party count. The sentimental condescension of letting them off the hook from saying "thank you" doesn't count at all.
Much-loved club director Bernita Aldridge – "Ms. A" to two generations of Boys & Girls Club kids now – knows these children have harder lives than some, but she's matter-of-fact about it.
"I wish I could give them everything they need, but I can't," she said. "So I just try to love them as much as I can."
Which counts for more than anything else.
Jacquielynn Floyd can be reached at 214-977-8065 and at .
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