Shelton Boys & Girls Club to Get Some New Wheels

The Boys and Girls Club of Shelton and Ansonia will receive 60 children's bikes and helmets from the Foundation for Life, Inc.

The foundation will deliver the bicycles and helmets during the Boys and Girls Club annual Back-A-Kid Campaign Event.

"During this event, First Niagara Bank will also be providing the children with vouchers to the Sports Complex of Shelton," according to the foundation, a charitable organization supported by the employees of Barnum Financial Group, an office of MetLife. Its office is on Corporate Drive in Shelton.

"Barnum Financial Group employees will help raise the funds for the bikes and helmets. Each organization will surprise the children with their bikes and helmets. The bikes will not only allow the children to get out into their communities but also provide a fun way to stay physically fit and healthy," according to the foundation. 

Paul Blanco, Managing Director of Barnum Financial Group and Founder of the Foundation for Life, Inc., was introduced to Bikes for Kids by the founders of the Bikes for Kids program, Bill and Debbie Pollakov, said a foundation statement.

Since 2007, the Foundation for Life, Inc. with the support of the Barnum Financial Group employees has donated over 1,500 bikes and helmets to underprivileged children throughout Connecticut, New York and Rhode Island.  

The children are typically invited to a free day of family fun where they are then given the additional surprise of a bike to take home. 

Other sporting events include a Rockland Boulders Baseball Game; a Jets Football Game, an afternoon in the Giants Field House as well as a baseball game with the Rhode Island Pawtucket Red Sox. 

"Many of these children may not have ever attended a baseball game or owned a bike," said Kristy Brown, Foundation for Life Coordinator.

"At Barnum Financial Group, we are committed to making a difference in the communities we serve,” Blanco said. “My wife Mindee and I started the Foundation for Life as an avenue through which we and our employees could improve the lives of children and families.”