Wesley Healthcare
June 18, 2014

WICHITA – Leaders from Wesley Medical Center are partnering with Wish for Wheels, a not-for-profit organization that provides brand new bikes and helmets to low-income or underserved kids, to purchase, assemble and deliver 35 children’s bikes to summer campers at YSOAR, a national YMCA signature program sponsored by the Greater Wichita YMCA in partnership with Martin Ortiz Elementary School.

More than 100 Wesley employees from various disciplines will be gathered into groups to assemble the tyke-sized bikes today, June 18 from 1:00pm – 2:00pm at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Riverview Room. Wish for Wheels workers will be on-hand to assist with the preparation and inspection of the bikes.

“Wesley was looking for a community project that could also serve as a team-building exercise for its quarterly leadership training program,” said Nick Adams, Wesley’s vice president of marketing and public relations. “Building and donating bikes for YSOAR at Martin Ortiz Elementary School was the perfect project.”

Wish for Wheels was founded in 2004 and to date has given away 5,200 bikes and helmets to local low-income children.

“We think it is vital that children in underserved communities have an opportunity to have ownership of their own bikes to allow them the chance to develop a love of cycling,” said Brad Appel, found and director of Wish for Wheels. “One of our primary goals is to get kids outside and engaged in healthy activities, and this joint effort with Wesley will enable us to provide the mechanism for healthy recreation for 35 of Wichita’s students.”

The Greater Wichita YMCA helped identify which children would receive the new bikes, as well as work with Wish for Wheels on each child’s bike label. Each bike has a bike label that outlines the individual building specifications for that child. Each bike comes with a helmet. Wesley purchased the bikes for $3,500 through the Wish for Wheels organization.

Wesley senior management employees and Wish for Wheels workers will deliver the bikes to Martin Ortiz Elementary School, 3361 Arkansas Ave., today at 2:45:00pm

For more information about Wesley Medical Center, please visit www.wesleymc.com. For more information about Wish for Wheels, please visit www.wishforwheels.org.