Volunteers assemble bikes for first graders at Riverview Elementary School

RIVERVIEW, Fla. - Christmas will be coming early for the first-grade class of Riverview Elementary School.

Nearly 40 volunteers assembled 85 bicycles at the Talking Pint Bistro and Bar Wednesday night, and those bikes will be donated to the kids Thursday morning.

"With Can'd-Aid, we try to do a lot of programming that serves underprivileged kids," said Jeff Lenosky, the "tread to trails" Can’d Aid ambassador. "We’re all fans of art, music, cycling, getting outside and being active, so a lot of the things that we do, either inspire kids to be creative or get outside and get moving."

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The volunteers worked hard to make sure every bike is safe to ride.

"It’s great, I think it’s awesome that these kids are going to have bikes, it’s so much fun to be outside, and bikes are the best way to get them outside," said June Peterson, who drove from Lakeland to volunteer.

Putting together all those bikes is a pretty big undertaking. Lenosky said it can take about 15 minutes to put one together, and with so many volunteers, they gave a two-hour window of time. 

"Getting the bikes put together usually happens pretty fast, and then we have a handful of people doing the quality checks, that usually takes a little bit more time because we want to make sure the bikes are safe for the kids to ride, so when they get the bike, they don’t have to worry about it," Lenosky said.

For more information about the organization, visit candaid.org.