CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The owner of a local restaurant on Charleston’s West Side payed it forward this holiday season by giving away more than 50 bikes, helmets and other toys.
Adrian Wright, the owner of Dem 2 Brothers And A Grill, dressed up as Santa Claus Tuesday afternoon and welcomed the winners of his bike contest into his restaurant to claim their prize.
“My thing is helping giving back to the kids,” Wright said. “As the community embraces my business, I want to give back to the community.”
To win a bicycle, Wright said the kids had to film a 60-second video explaining why they needed a new bike for Christmas and then had to submit it to the Dem 2 Brothers’ website.
“I mean, I used to buy bikes from the community, fix them up, paint them and sell them back to people cheap when I was a little boy,” Wright said of why he started the contest.
The first winner to enter the restaurant was West Side Elementary School student Lae’Quan Smith, 6, of Charleston.
When asked how he felt after receiving a new bike, he said “happiness.”
“I told Santa that I needed a new bike and then I rode off and showed him how good I can ride my bike,” he said about the video he submitted.
Smith began riding his bike this year, according to his mother Melissa Steward. She said when his bike was stolen, she bought him a new one, but then the pedal on the new bike broke.
“He was devastated. He just wanted a bike. This really helped us out a lot,” Steward said. “I was going to get him one regardless, but it helps out. It helps the neighborhood kids. They’re really doing something good here.”
The contest was only open for kids in grades 1 through 8 who live in Charleston.
Wright said extra bikes were available and were given to any child who showed up Tuesday. Smaller gifts for children under the age of five were also distributed.