NEW SHARON – With a little help from the New Sharon Masonic Lodge, a number of Cape Cod Hill School students translated words into new wheels Monday, as part of the statewide Bikes For Books program.
Assembled in the bleachers, students cheered their peers as they sprinted across the gym floor to the line of bikes and waiting masons. Master Alfred Griswold, appearing with fellow members of the Franklin Lodge 123 Bill Chute and Ray Kelley, told the students that books could take them to a multitude of places. Students had filled Tupperware containers with slips of paper, each simultaneously representing a book they had read and a chance at winning a bike; three of the students were Griswold’s own great-granddaughters.
The Bikes for Books program operates throughout the state, with the statewide Masonic organization, the Grand Lodge of Maine, reimbursing local lodges to provide bicycles, helmets and t-shirts to participating elementary school students. At Cape Cod Hill School, Franklin Lodge 123 is the local lodge.
The program got its start in Maine nine years ago when Mike Theriault proposed the idea to Euclid Masonic Lodge No. 194 in Madison, where he is a past master.
Students that received bikes include:
- Kindergarteners Coby Bryant and Lilly May
- 1st Graders Bailey Markham and Marissa Sawyer
- 2nd Graders Ricky Lane and Harper Olmstead
- 3rd Graders Jason Akers and Ashley Farris
- 4th Graders Bode Markham and Emma Turcotte
- 5th Graders Malachi Nelson and Gracie Ross
Congratulations to all the kids who won bikes !!! Keep up the good work. Thank You to the Mason lodges across the state that make this happen !!!
Love this program! Thanks for all the local lodges that make this possible!