History of Bikes for Angels - Celebrating 14 years
Bikes for Angels was founded in 2007 by Rick Curlee in the Mansfield ISD Auto Tech Program. The idea came when the Principal asked Mr Curlee to help deliver angel tree presents because he had a bright red truck. Rick and wife Dee had always bought angel tree gifts so he bought 3 random bikes to carry with them that afternoon. When they came to the last house, there was only one present for each child. The blessing was that the 3 random bikes just happened to fit each of those 3 children. He told the Principal we need to share this joy of giving with our students. The Bikes for Angels program started the next year and enough funds were raised to buy 385 new bikes. The program started out with 3 bikes and has grown to over 8,000 bikes in 2020. The look on the face of a child receiving a bike is wondrous, but the excitement you see in the eyes of students raising money for those kids will touch your heart. The program was changed to a 501c3 Charitable Organization in June of 2014 due to the Disability Retirement of Mr. Curlee. His Wife and Daughters, Dee, Crystal and Amy took the reins and created the 501c3 to keep Bikes for Angels going.