Published: November 19, 2009 09:17 pm         

Exchange Club conducting annual 'Bikes For Tykes' program

TERRE HAUTE — The Exchange Club of Terre Haute is conducting a Bikes For Tykes campaign to underwrite the costs of providing tricycles and bicycles to the homes of needy children in the Wabash Valley for the holiday season.

The club hopes to collect enough money to purchase 300 bicycles for delivery by Christmas day. Donations of $50 will help underwrite the cost of a bicycle or tricycle and bicycle safety helmet for one child. However, donations of any amount will be greatly appreciated by the club.

Terre Haute radio station WTHI-FM 99.9 and television station WTHI-TV 10 will conduct a Bike-A-Thon fund-raising event from 7 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. today. Listeners and viewers can make donations at the station’s studios at 918 Ohio St. throughout the day.

Donations can be made at any Wabash Valley First Financial Bank branch through Dec. 10, by mail at Exchange Club of Terre Haute, P.O. Box 10113, Terre Haute, IN 47801 or by contacting Bikes For Tykes Project Co-Chair Dale Long at (812) 877-8418.

Children who qualify to receive bicycles this year are being identified by Salvation Army and Covenant Cooperative Ministries of Terre Haute, the West Vigo High School Ambassadors of West Terre Haute and local service agencies.

Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology students will assemble the bicycles and help with distribution in December.