LIKE RIDING A BIKE: Siblings’ annual Cheer Fund effort provides the wheels in its eighth year

The nonprofit campaign Friendship Wheels has raised nearly $25,000 during the past eight years to provide bicycles at Christmas to children through the Columbus Firemen’s Cheer Fund — and two of its main organizers are still in high school.

Friendship Wheels describes itself as “a charity bike ride organized by kids who want to help other kids in Columbus, Indiana.” Although the charity bike ride has been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic for the past few years, the giving has continued.

The annual campaign partners with the Cheer Fund to give bikes to dozens of children at Christmas. It was founded by young bicycle enthusiasts Siddha Hall, Solomon Hall, Ty Greathouse and Cameron Greathouse.

The kids created the event when they were in elementary school, with the help of their parents.

Siddha and Solomon are now a junior and sophomore, respectively, at Trinity Lutheran High School in Seymour. The Halls organized the bike ride when they still resided in Columbus. Andrea “Andy” Hall, mother of Siddha and Solomon, said in a previous interview that family members continued it because they believe strongly in the Cheer Fund’s mission.

According to co-chair Ben Noblitt, this Christmas the Cheer Fund was able to buy 60 bicycles using funds from both Friendship Wheels and a $500 donation by Jason Major with Cummins, Inc. He estimated that about 55 of the bikes came out of the Friendship Wheels donation.

The program raised $3,950 in 2021. Friendship Wheels posted on social media that if they could buy 47 bikes this year — which they surpassed — it would put them at a total of 300 bikes purchased during the past eight years. Siddha said that they’ve received $24,000 in donations in that time.

She said that the bikes go to kids whose parents ask to receive Christmas presents from the Cheer Fund, specifically going to those who request them. Families provide details such as size and gender, and then they buy the bikes based off what the Cheer Fund tells them to get. Walmart usually gives a discount on the purchase.

“They collect the donations, and then they call us, and we figure out how many bikes we can get with their donations,” Noblitt said. “And we meet them at Walmart … and buy as many bikes as we can.”

The Cheer Fund then loads up the bikes, takes them to their building, and delivers them with the rest of their gift boxes. Noblitt said that Siddha and Solomon sometimes help deliver the bikes and toys on distribution day.

Delivering bikes face to face is Siddha’s favorite part Friendship Wheels. She also enjoys having the bike ride, which she called “a lot of fun.”

The siblings have not held the ride since 2018, due to a rain cancellation in 2019 and the pandemic in the following two years. However, they still accepted donations in 2020. This year, they held a fundraising campaign and entered the names of each donor giving more than $20 in a drawing to win a big-screen TV.

“Last year, we also did a Facebook campaign,” said Solomon. “We also went door-to-door. We have sat in front of Walmart a couple times and asked for donations. We sent letters out to donors with a keychain on it, just to remind them.”

Solomon said they’re grateful to donors for helping them continue to raise funds despite not being able to have the bike ride, which they hope to bring back in 2022.

Their first event was in 2014, and it began because of the kids’ passion for biking. Solomon recalled that when he and Siddha were in elementary school, their mother took them on a bike ride from Columbus North High School to Yo Mama Frozen Yogurt &More.

“We wanted every kid to be able to experience the same thing that we did,” he said. “Me and Siddha made a little imaginary bike camp that we presented to our mom with a flier. And we eventually kept nagging her, and we got the family bike ride going.”

Hall said it’s “crazy” to think that next year will be the ninth year of Friendship Wheels and probably see them pass the $25,000 milestone. At first, the family thought it would be a one-time event.

“Obviously, in the beginning, it was mostly Jacque (Greathouse) and I,” she said. “But they (the kids) would go to businesses, and we’d try to prepare them, and they would ask businesses for money. They made all the signs. And then, over time, we’ve been able to pass on most of the duties. I feel like I’m mostly the chauffeur now.”

The Hall family said that the Greathouses are not as involved with Friendship Wheels as they used to be but have donated to the cause.

“100% of the donations go to buying bikes, and our parents are fortunate enough that they could cover the expenses, such as snacks for the halfway point, signs and other stuff like that,” Solomon said.

The endeavor is not without its challenges. Siddha said it can be difficult to balance their daily lives with Friendship Wheels.

“Especially this year, we’ve been really busy,” she said. “And during COVID, it was hard, because there were so many other things going on.”

She said that the pandemic also affected their ability to campaign for donations in person.

Solomon added that on years where they’ve held the bike ride, getting volunteers is another challenge.

“We had about 1.5 miles of stretch that we had to keep people safe along the trails, but we were able make it happen,” he said.

Hall said she’s proud of her kids and their generosity toward others.

“We all want our kids to have serving hearts, and so, mine do,” she said. “Super happy about that. … They couldn’t have partnered up with a better organization. The Columbus Firemen’s Cheer Fund just serves so many kids at Christmas.”

For Noblitt’s part, he enjoys seeing Solomon and Siddha’s reactions to the number of bicycles they’ve helped provide.

“When they open the door to the garden center in Walmart and there’s 60 bikes in there, it shows the kids that the work that they’re doing is actually going to something,” he said. “And it’s good to see their faces and their smiles when they do get to see that.”

He added that Friendship Wheels “takes a lot of weight off our shoulders when it comes to (the Cheer Fund) being able to give bicycles.”

When asked what they hope Friendship Wheels provides to people, Solomon said, “Christmas in general. I don’t think that’s anything that someone should be able to miss out on.”