Willow Glen Resident

Cover Story

Photograph by Vicki Thompson

Outdoor Fun: North Willow Glen residents Ken Eklund (left) and Debbie Palmer helped build children's bicycles with nonprofit Turning Wheels. Two of the bikes were earmarked for sisters Jenni and Jimena (right) Duvall, who enjoy an afternoon ride with Eklund and Palmer.

Geared Up

Sisters discover joy of cycling with their own wheels

By Mayra Flores De Marcotte

A memory that stands out in many children's lives is the day they receive their first bicycle--the metallic paint, shiny chrome wheels, untouched rubber tires, but most of all that first ride around the block.

For Jimena and Jenni Duval, a local nonprofit and two North Willow Glen residents made that memory possible.

"I was surprised," says 10-year-old Jenni. "We never had a bike before. We thought we wouldn't get one for Christmas. We thought we would just get clothes."

In December, with the help of North Willow Glen residents Debbie Palmer and Ken Eklund, the two girls received new custom bicycles, helmets and bike locks from Turning Wheels for Kids, a nonprofit that gives bicycles to children.

Jenni says their new bikes enable the girls to pedal to the park, the corner store and to their friends' homes.

"I am so happy," says the girls' mother, Guillermina Duval. "I am filled with emotion at the thought of what Debbie and Ken went through to get my girls their bikes."

Duval says it broke her heart every time her two daughters asked her why they couldn't have bicycles.

The family was living paycheck to paycheck due to Duval's medical bills after battling cancer.

"They didn't have anything to play with," Duval says. "We couldn't afford anything. I had breast cancer and lost one of my breasts. After that, we had just enough to eat and pay rent."

Palmer and Eklund's gift has changed the family's lives, she says.

"The girls are so happy now," Duval says. "Debbie gives them a call and comes to pick them up to go riding with her and Ken. After school, they come home and ride their bikes."

Although it's smooth pedaling now, at first the two girls were hesitant to accept the bicycles.

"We thought that they were going to cost too much," Jenni says, "but we felt happier when we found out Ken and Debbie didn't spend any money on them."

Turning Wheels For Kids

Palmer stumbled upon the nonprofit while shopping at Whole Foods in Campbell.

Whole Foods has a program where customers who reuse their shopping bags in order to save paper get a 5-cent credit. Customers also have the option to donate this credit to one of three local nonprofit organizations that are listed at the checkout stand.

That's how Palmer heard about Turning Wheels for Kids. The organization was on the list and involved children.

It was then that Palmer remembered a family with two daughters who lived across the street.

When she got home, she went online and looked up the nonprofit, and emailed the founder about the two girls.

Palmer wrote in her email that she knew of some kids who needed bicycles.

Sue Runsvold, founder of the nonprofit, responded to Palmer the next day.

Runsvold explained in her email that the nonprofit doesn't choose the children who receive the bikes. The nonprofit raises the money and rallies volunteers to build the bikes at the annual Bike Build and then sends them to charities that already have lists of children in need of bikes. However, Runsvold says, she was so touched by the sisters' story that she added them to her list.

At the nonprofit's second annual Bike Build, volunteers from all walks of life, including doctors, bicycle club members and members of the Santa Clara Fire Department, came together to build 1,000 bicycles from the ground up.

Along with the volunteers, organizations and local businesses pitched in.

The San Jose Bicycle Club donated the space at the convention center, Togos donated sandwiches and Starbucks donated coffee.

"It was so beautiful to see organizations help assemble these bikes for the kids," Eklund says. "Does anyone not remember getting their first bike?"

Building the bicycles and earmarking them for the girls was the easy part. Getting the bicycles to the girls was s bit trickier.

Palmer and Eklund's cars weren't large enough to transport the bicycles, and they had no place to store them.

"It was a community effort," Palmer says. "One of our neighbors stored the bikes for us. Another neighbor lent us their van to deliver the bikes."

In the end, the effort was well worth it.

"They're the sweetest kids," Palmer says. "The bikes give them a sense of independence, an opportunity to get out and enjoy the fresh air. It's the kid equivalent of getting your first car. There's a sense of ownership."

Turning Wheels for Kids aims to do just that.

Runsvold grew up in Orange County and her mother struggled to make ends meet. Each Christmas, she and her siblings always received gifts, donated by her community, but it was the memory of her first bicycle at the age of 8 that moved her to establish the nonprofit in 2003.

"Our goal is to provide a bike to every child who would not have the ability to get one another way," Runsvold says. "A bicycle is a health benefit, a sense of accomplishment and freedom. Put a kid on a bike, and it's a good thing."

Since its establishment, the nonprofit has been able to provide thousands of bicycles to children in the Santa Clara County. Ninety percent of the bicycles have gone to children in San Jose, Runsvold says.

The Duval sisters are the latest benefactors of Runsvold's dream.

"Both the little girls wrote us thank-you letters," Runsvold says. "By the end, I was in tears."

Runsvold says, "Jimena wrote, 'I would have never owned a bike if not for people like you. God takes special care of people who take care of others.' Jimena told me to save the letter forever so that I will always be reminded of the good we did."

For more information on Turning Wheels for Kids, visit www.turningwheels forkids.org or call 408.885.5203.