August 1, 2001
Goodwill path safe place to pedal
Community donations pave way for bike trail
By LISA PERKINS
Herald staff writer
Every kid should have a safe place to ride a bike-or so thought Cindy Witkowski, volunteer coordinator for the Goodwill Inn. Through her efforts and support of the local community, the Goodwill Inn has a safe bike path where children can ride without fear.
"Kids just want to ride bikes," Witkowski said, "so we had to find a safe way for them to be able to do that."
In partnership with WTCM radio, who advertised for donations, the Goodwill Inn received the $3,700 needed to put down an asphalt trail on the Inn's property and provide the children with bicycle helmets.
Before the trail was complete, Witkowski made sure that the children knew the safety rules for bicycling.
"I knew the St. Jude's Trike-A-Thon program offered some very good safety lessons, so I approached them about allowing us to have the Trike-A-Thon with one donation from an anonymous donor and they agreed."
Witkowski used the bike safety class and Trike-A-Thon program to meet some other goals she has set for the children housed at the Inn.
"We wanted our children to be aware that there are other children hurting too; the awareness was wonderful. We wanted them to give something back."
During the summer months the children have participated in a variety of community service projects including cleaning up trash at a local park and planting and watering flowers around the Inn.
The Inn also offered classes in manners, hair and nail care and dental hygiene along with field trips to the local fire station, the sand dunes and Pizza Hut.
The Goodwill Inn Homeless Shelter has been in operation since 1979 and provides emergency shelter, access to donated food, housing placement services, vocational services, veteran's services and children's services to homeless men, women and families in Northern Michigan. Over the past year 318 homeless individuals - 257 adults and 61 children - have been provided shelter at the Inn.