COSTA MESA : Students Bake So Others Can Bike

Beth McCook knew how special a bicycle ride could be to the students at Parsons Special Education Center.

While teaching there in the 1980s she loved to watch the severely developmentally disabled students get on the bikes every day at noon and take a ride. For that brief hour they were on their own, completely free from the limitations that hampered them the rest of their day.

“It was such a freedom for so many of the students who had never been on a bicycle before,” said McCook, who got her teaching start at Parsons. “It is like watching a kid get in on a roller coaster for the first time.”

So when McCook found out that thieves had broken into the school and stolen the bicycles, she decided to help out. Last week, with the aid of several students, the Corona del Mar High School special education teacher organized, baked and sold enough treats in just three days to raise funds to replace the stolen bikes.

“It has been wonderful, the response from the general public and the district,” said Parsons Principal Hazel Rojas, adding that other people in the community have offered their help as well. “It has been very heartwarming.”

Rojas found that some things had been stolen from the school when she returned from Easter vacation in April. Thieves had broken into the multipurpose room and gone through the supplies, taking a few cots, the school’s videocassette recorder and nine of the coveted bicycles. Two of them were large tricycles, costing about $300 each, and were specially equipped to handle the students, many of whom are adults.

“We had a couple left, but that was the bulk of our supply,” Rojas said, adding that with no money to replace them, school officials figured the students would just have to share the two remaining bikes.

But McCook wouldn’t have it.

After hearing from a parent about the missing bikes, she began organizing the giant bake sale. For one full day the stoves in Corona del Mar High’s cooking class pumped out pan after pan of Rice Krispies treats. The students running the seven cooking stations became so adept at baking, they could make a double batch, cut and wrap it in just over 15 minutes.

The goodies were then farmed out to homerooms, lunchrooms and anywhere students congregate in large numbers. The tactic worked. In about 20 minutes, the bulk of the 1,600 treats, selling at 50 cents each, were gone. By the end of the day about $700 had been collected.

“The whole student body and faculty got together. The neatest thing has been the widespread feeling of helping someone else,” said McCook, adding that some people donated as much as $20 for one bar. “It was just great.”

Now the only thing left to do is to purchase the bikes. Working with a supplier in New York, the organizers are searching for a good deal. They hope the money raised will be enough for two of the large tricycles and to have the students riding again within the next couple of weeks. McCook and Rojas in the meantime are a bit overwhelmed by the whirlwind effort and outpouring of support. “It has been great,” Rojas said.

Added McCook: “I knew firsthand how much those bikes meant to those kids. It was so sad that they were stolen.”