Awesome Palm Beach donates a $1,700 no-strings attached micro-grant to Jack the Bike Man

February 10, 2014

On the evening of Thursday February 6th, Awesome Palm Beach, the Palm Beach County chapter of the Awesome Foundation, met for its Pitch Party and Grant Award and donated a $1,700 micro-grant to Jack The Bike Man.

Jeff Brown, one of the co-founders of Awesome Palm Beach, explains the concept, “We give a no-strings-attached grant each month of at least $1,000 to people who do something awesome in Palm Beach County. These grants can go

to individuals, groups, companies, charities, self-help groups or any type of entity to support projects in charity, sciences, arts, civic engagement, media, entertainment… just about anything as long as long as it contributes to making Palm Beach County more awesome!  The grants are crowdfunded from the trustees of Awesome Palm Beach and from anyone with $100 that attends our monthly Pitch Parties.”

According to Brown, “By offering these micro-grants the trustees of Awesome Palm Beach seek to support worthy local organizations and projects for which the money would make a huge impact to the community and the people of Palm Beach County.”

Making good on its mission, Awesome Palm Beach recently heard live presentations from a number of non-profit and start up companies and awarded $1,700 to the local charity, Jack the Bike Man, Inc.  Jack the Bike Man is a non-profit organization that provides free bikes to children. The organization gave away over 1,000 bicycles during the 2013 holiday season through its Wheels of Hope program. In addition to bike giveaways, Jack the Bike Man offers jobs to at-risk youth in West Palm Beach.

Jack Hairston, the Bike Man himself, had this to say, “Jack the Bike Man has a strong track record of getting bikes to needy kids in Palm Beach County, and we need the help. Awesome Palm Beach heard our story and stepped up to the plate with an awesome donation. We will use it to buy specialty bicycle tools, which will be used for many years of bike building. Thanks for this Awesome recognition! It was a hoot!!”

The Mission of “Jack the Bike Man” is to distribute bikes to needy children and to provide education, guidance and training to at-risk children of migrant workers and their parents, and to give hope with skills that will assist them in their transition to a new life in the United States of America through bicycle programs and other projects. With after-school programs like bicycle repair and maintenance, supported by counselors providing language-comprehension classes, social conduct guidance, emotional support as well as a mentoring program provided by volunteers, the children learn responsibility, family values, honesty, trust and self-esteem. They become productive members of our society, less inclined to become involved with gang activities.

The Awesome Foundation wishes Jack Hairston and “Jack the Bike Man” great success for this local initiative, which is driven by both vision and heart. The Awesome Foundation urges you to check out their website, and join in supporting this worthy cause.

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About Awesome Palm Beach

Awesome Palm Beach is the local Palm Beach County Chapter of the Awesome Foundation.

We are a volunteer group that helps crowdfund awesome projects and people that touch lives and the community in Palm Beach County. We support anything that makes Palm Beach County a more Awesome place, everything from arts to education, to social media, innovation and far-out creativity.  Applications are reviewed on a monthly basis and grants start at $1,000.

For more information about Awesome Palm Beach, our founding members (called Trustees of Awesome), or to apply for a $1,000 minimum grant, check out more on our website at www.awesomepalmbeach.com

About “Jack the Bike Man”

“Jack the Bike Man” works with a dedicated group of volunteers and a small staff in West Palm Beach to get bikes to needy children, by the thousands, and to provide education, guidance and training to at-risk children of migrant workers and their parents, and to give hope with skills that will assist them in their transition to a new life in the United States through bicycle programs and other projects.

For more information or to donate to or volunteer along with Jack please visit www.jackthebikeman.org