Thanks to a team of Great Loopers 20 needy children have new bikes after a bike building event held in Norfolk, Virginia to America’s Great Loop Cruisers’ Association (AGLCA) rendezvous in the area May 5.

This year the AGLCA Spring Rendezvous offered two "official" Marinas, Waterside Marina in Norfolk in the middle of the action at the Waterside District, which features live entertainment (and several dining choices) and Waterside Marina across the river in Portsmouth.

“I had participated in a similar bike building event with a former employer and when discussing ideas with Curtis and Gill Stokes suggested a similar idea to not only have fun with our fellow loopers but also give back to the community,” said Michael K. Martin Yacht Broker with Curtis Stokes & Associates, Inc., Charleston, SC. “Curtis & Gill agreed to sponsor the event and paid for the 20 - 20" bikes and tools needed to build them and I purchased helmets for each of the kids.”

Martin then reached out the Boys and Girls Club in the Norfolk, VA and worked with Keavy Dixson, Chief Operations Officer for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeast Virginia.

According to Martin, Dixon went out to her different chapters and found that a group of 20 boys and girls from Franklin, VA. would love to receive the bikes. The kids would come to Norfolk by bus to receive their bikes at the last hour of the event.

“I had the bikes delivered to South Carolina where I live so that I could check for any missing parts, remove much of the packaging material and inflate the tires,” Martin explains. “I then packed up the bikes in the trailer rented by AGLCA and brought them to the Sheraton Waterside Hotel in Norfolk.”

Prior to the event Martin painstakingly laid out all of the various pieces so that they could be built more easily.

Once the event started at 3:00 the roughly 20 two-person teams had to answer trivia questions about the Great Loop in order to get their tools, pieces of the bikes, helmets and name tags.

They built the bikes as they answered questions and at the end of the first hour, 20 bikes were built, inspected for safety and tagged for their child.

At 5:00 pm the kids arrived by bus and were very excited to see the surprise waiting for them. The event participants then worked with the kids to find their bikes, adjust their helmets and as needed, help them ride learn to ride the bikes around the conference room.

The kids had a great time and while we all loaded the bikes onto the bus for their ride home the kids were treated to ice cream by Kim Russo of the AGLCA.