Building Bikes for Kids Who Have Lost a Parent

On Sept. 4, 2013, employees from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan gathered at Kellogg Park in Plymouth for a “Build-A-Bike” team-building event, hosted by the Leadership Institute, to benefit the children of Yatooma’s Foundation For The Kids.  At the end of the event, 12 children left the park with brand new bikes.

“We’re grateful for the support and generosity consistently shown to the families we serve, with children who hugged mom or dad one day and said goodbye the next,” said Norman Yatooma, founder of Yatooma’s Foundation For The Kids. “It’s moments like these a child will remember for the rest of his or her life, and though we can never replace Mom or Dad, we can work to create new happy memories for these kids to carry with them.”

BCBS employees divided into teams and completed a series of challenges to earn parts to build the bikes. Challenges included deciphering codes, solving puzzles and unlocking secrets to demonstrate the importance of teamwork and how collaboration increases the ability to achieve. Once they received all the parts, the building began.

At the end of the activity, the bikes were donated to several families served by Yatooma’s Foundation For The Kids. Six girls and six boys were the lucky recipients of a brand-new set of wheels and a smile.

Yatooma’s Foundation For The Kids is a non-profit organization that focuses on providing guidance, stability and financial assistance to families with children who have lost one or both parents. It was founded on Father’s Day in 2003 in memory of Yatooma’s father, Manuel S. Yatooma.

The Foundation’s mission is to bring tenderness to tragedy and to help turn tragedy into triumph for children who have lost a parent. This is done through financial, emotional, education and practical support. 

For more information about the Yatooma’s Foundation For The Kids, visit forthekidsfoundation.org