A thief is making it harder for a woman with a severe disability to get to work. And now friends are trying to raise money to get her back on the road.
Bridget Kuhlman needs a 3-wheeled bike in order to get around and get to work. Someone stole it last Friday. Now friends have launched a fund drive to get her a new one.
Bridget Kuhlman has cerebral palsy. She can’t drive and walking any distance is a strain.
So Kuhlman rode a special 3-wheel bike to her job at Arby’s on 1st Avenue S.E.
She parked her bike next to the restaurant’s fenced-in dumpster area in full view of the drive through window.
Nothing happened for two years until last Friday when someone snipped the lock and rode off. Now her friends are trying to make it right with a fund raiser to get her a new bike.
Kuhlman says she was devastated last Friday when she got off work and found her bike gone.
“I was very shocked and I lost it. I was crying because I’m like what am I going to do,” she said.
But that shock eventually turned to elation when she learned her boss at the fast food restaurant was organizing a fund drive to buy her a new 3-wheeler.
“Yes, I lost my bike and yes it’s not right. But I’m glad I have a boss who got it started even with her own family,” Kuhlman said.
Arby’s store manager Angie Takes launched a Go Fund Me page called “Bike for Bridget” with her own family making the first contributions.
The hope is to do better than the used pawn shop 3-wheeler that someone swiped.
Takes says she hopes to get a bike with more back support to make pedaling easier for Bridget and lights for riding at night. Certainly, she plans to buy a better bike lock.
“Bridget goes to the laundromat with her bike. She does everything with her bike. She has two dogs and gives them rides on her bike. It was something I had to do,” Takes said.
Bridget says nobody saw the bike disappear so she doesn’t know what happened or when. All she knows is she’d like the freedom to move about again. And that means getting another bike she can ride.
Those interested in helping can visit her Go Fund Me page here: A BIKE FOR BRIDGET
ToeSchmoe on December 1st, 2017 at 05:27 UTC »
This is a prime example of a silver lining. There is currently $2,800 raised for a $300 bike. She will have plenty leftover for her savings, or Christmas or to care for her dogs or whatever and a brand new better bike than the one she had. Safer and more comfortable. This worked out beautifully for her.
Avoidingsnail on December 1st, 2017 at 05:18 UTC »
A kid a couple grades behind me donated the money he was going to spend on a new bike (full blown stunt bmx bike so it was a lot of coin) to our school fundraiser which picks a disabled person in our community and we pay for something they need and it ended up being a kid in his grade who he was friends with. So the local news network did a story on him and bought him a bike ( from walmart) and it was stolen that week.
IvorySunflower on December 1st, 2017 at 03:36 UTC »
The good in people make up for the shitty people