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12/06/2017 07:30 AMWhen he was a kid growing up in Guilford, John DellaVentura experienced the power of giving new bikes at Christmas to neighbors in need. What seemed like his family’s simple act of generosity gave John a gift that’s lasted a lifetime: the knowledge that he, even as a child, had the power to make a difference in someone’s life.
In 2016, as parents of youngsters belonging to the Bishop farming family’s seventh generation, the DellaVentura and Healy families took the notion of children helping children to the next level by establishing a charitable effort, Roots4Relief.
“Roots4Relief’s goal is to empower the community’s children to make a difference in their community,” says John. “I think a lot of kids see their parents giving to charity and donating money, but it doesn’t necessarily resonate with the children enough to have an effect on their own charitable wellbeing.”
The roots of Roots4Relief are two husband-and-wife teams and four collective young cousins. They are John and his wife, Sarah Bishop DellaVentura, and Matt and Carrie Bishop Healy, together with Grace and Abigail DellaVentura (ages 9 and 7, respectively) and Addison and Nora Healy (4 and 1, respectively).
This holiday season, Roots4Relief is working to empower many more Guilford families with the gift of giving by encouraging local families to donate now, then sign up to turn out at Bishop’s Orchards Little Red Barn on Saturday, Dec. 16 to help build bikes to give away. Donations of any amount are also welcome from any community member wishing to simply contribute to the effort.
It’s the first Wishing Wheels Holiday Bike Drive for Roots4Relief. The group held a successful Toy Drive last holiday season and has been working to involve local families and their children in different charitable efforts quarterly, including a spring Earth Day Clean up and, most recently, raising funds to support 18 Texas teachers displaced in the wake of Hurricane Harvey in the fall.
Wishing Wheels has the support of Zane’s Cycles, Bishop’s Orchards, and a growing list of families. A full donation of $160 provides a child with a new bike and helmet. Donations are accepted online through Roots4Relief.com, Facebook (search “Roots4Relief”), PayPal, and at Bishop’s Orchards. Community involvement with Wishing Wheels culminates on Dec. 16 with the bike build from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. John says the event is going to be one that brings families together for some holiday cheer, music, hot cocoa, a toasty fire alight in the fire pit, and, of course, bike building.
“We want to share the experience of being able to be hands-on and build a bike with your family, and knowing that it’s going to be given to children that need a helping hand this year,” says John. “It’s about recognizing there are families in need, and being able roll up your sleeves and build bikes for those kids.”
John got that experience as a youngster growing up in Guilford with his family, which joined together for several holiday seasons with the Smith, Williams, and Wiegner families to build and deliver bikes.
“My hope is to replicate for other families what my Christmas Eves were like as a kid. We sat by the fire with friends and family and we just built bikes for kids,” says John.
While the four Guilford families would then hop in the back of a van (decorated with Christmas lights and a menorah) to deliver bikes to the community, Roots4Relief is planning to make private deliveries to area organizations with families awaiting new bikes for kids, says John. Roots4Relief is working with Guilford Social Services, the Connecticut Department of Children and Family Services, and New Haven-based New Reach (which provides housing and support for homeless) to match bikes with kids.
“We have a list of local families, and right now, we’re at about 50 to 60 bikes ready to donate between the organizations—but we could double that number,” says John of the need. “We’re mainly specifying bikes for kids from three- to nine years old, but we just got an email for a kid who’s 14, and we will have a bike for that child. We still have people reaching out to us.”
While the need is great, so is the community support, says John. He says he was blown away by the immediate and generous response he received to a heartfelt appeal to raise $5,000, which he posted on Facebook on Nov. 28, the day known as “Giving Tuesday.”
“Giving Tuesday, it was pretty awesome,” says John, who quickly saw more than $5,400 roll in at Wishing Wheels’ Facebook fundraiser page.
That number continues to grow toward what is now a $7,500 goal.
“I was amazed at the outreach from the community, and it continues; it just keeps going. We’re going to continue with the momentum and see where it goes from there.”
John says the response shows the mission of Roots4Relief—kids helping kids—has struck a chord with the community.
“I think it was the connection of showing where things have gone my whole childhood up to where it is now,” says John, who wrote about his boyhood giving experience and tied in the opportunity for community members and families with young children to support Wishing Wheels. “A lot of people have contacted me to say how awesome you can take something you did as a child and grow it.”
As a past president for Guilford Center for Children and current vice president of Guilford Land Conservation Trust, John says he’s had his “toe in the water” with local non-profits, but Roots4Relief is his “first go” at establishing one. The extended Bishop family is hoping Roots4Relief will take root as a long-serving Guilford non-profit that can be passed to the next generation.
“Our two children, as well the Healy’s kids—those four girls make up the seventh generation of Bishop’s, and this is about being able to say to them that you have amazing platform, through Bishop’s, to be able to accomplish your philanthropic goals,” says John.