Tammy Reid shares memory of 1st bike as Operation Breakthrough kids get new ones
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Tammy Reid helped distribute 100 bikes and helmets to Operation Breakthrough kids.
- Raising Cane’s, in its sixth year, will give away more than 4,000 bikes nationwide.
- Celebrities and team figures promoted helmet safety while creating holiday memories.
When it comes to holiday gifts, there’s just something unequaled about giving a child a bicycle, no offense to Nintendo.
Two wheels equal places to go, people to see.
Two wheels create memories.
On Thursday, Tammy Reid, wife of Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, helped create those memories for 100 children at Operation Breakthrough. They were given bikes and helmets — safety first — for the holidays.
They were a gift from Raising Cane’s, which for six years has worked with youth groups and “special teams” like Reid to surprise kids across the country with new bicycles. This year, the chicken fingers chain will give away more than 4,000 bikes and helmets nationwide.
On Wednesday, Raising Cane’s gave away 100 bicycles at a YMCA in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where the chicken chain is based, with help from Gayle Benson, the owner of the New Orleans Saints.
Earlier in the week, Lacey Chabert, the queen of Hallmark Christmas movies, helped hand out bicycles at the Boys & Girls Club in Hollywood, Calif.
The Chiefs have a history of working with long-time children’s advocacy program and social service organization Operation Breakthrough, currently supporting 750 local children and their 450 families.
The kids knew who Reid was talking about when she mentioned “Travis.”
“Kelce,” they yelled.
“We love to partner with anybody who’s doing something for Operation Breakthrough,” Reid said at the event. “And getting a new bike? I mean, come on.
“These kids are receiving something so invaluable to them and they will remember this for the rest of their lives. I hope.”
Raising Cane’s owner and founder Todd Graves started the holiday giveaway because he wanted kids to feel what he did when he got a bike for Christmas.
Reid — wearing a Chiefs jacket and her ever-present Super Bowl rings — climbed onto one of the bicycles and took a quick, careful spin around the gymnasium during the party, which was closed to the public.
“I remember getting my first bike,” she told the kids, who were wearing red Santa hats for the occasion. “It was so pretty. It was purple and it had a banana seat and I just had little tassels off the side and I rode all over my neighborhood and I just thought this is the greatest thing ever.
“I’m free and I can get away from the house and ride wherever I want, safely. Always wear your bike helmet, right?”
And just like that, we have visions of Reid dancing in our heads — popping wheelies and giving her friends rides on a Schwinn String-Ray with plastic tassels dangling from the handlebars.
.jpg)