Ride On! R-FHers' Bike Drive a Success

When Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School (R-FH) junior Matt Dell decided to do all he could to get Hurricane Sandy-afflicted kids free rides with gently used bikes, he had a goal in mind.

That goal was to collect 100 bikes to get Sandy victims riding again. Well, that drive expectation was exceeded when, last weekend, Dell and pay-it-forward R-FH cohorts Enzo Lucarelli and Colin Heath, all Fair Haven residents, found themselves standing in a sea of 120 bikes brought from all over the area and set to get to those who were without since Sandy.

"Overall, it was a huge success," Dell said. "It was amazing to see how generous people were. Some of the bikes looked brand new."
That success, he said, was a testament to the Rumson and Fair Haven communities' generous, giving spirits.

The drive conducted via a three-pronged collection drop-off, Dell was stationed at the Fair Haven Youth Center, he said, while Heath and Lucarelli were in Rumson at Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage. There was another collection station at Monmouth Beach Bathing Pavilion (Little Monmouth).

"It was a wonderful experience; and I really want to thank the Dell family for getting me involved," Lucarelli said. "To me, bicycles mean transportation and they give people a special type of freedom. It was just great to help people who lost so much from Sandy get some of their freedom back."

Once the bikes were all collected and pooled together, volunteers from Sandyfamilymatch loaded the bikes in their vehicles and transported them to their new owners in Monmouth Beach, Sea Bright and Union Beach.

"We couldn't have done it without the help of Sandymatch," Dell said.

Equipped with their new bicycles, 120 Sandy-afflicted kids can now ride out Sandy's ill after-effects with a little more hope and a new set of wheels.