Sons to carry on bike project

Their fathers put 7,000 bicycles under needy kids' Christmas trees

Will Beard and Richard Dunn have stood by for years while their fathers, Andy Beard and Dick Dunn, provided bicycles for other people's kids.

In all, more than 7,000 children in Mecklenburg have received bikes during the Christmas season thanks to Andy and Dick.

But not this year.

This year, Andy and Dick are turning over control of their annual bike drive -- called the Spokes Group -- to their sons. Andy and Dick formed the group of big-hearted businesspeople nine years ago to raise money to buy bikes for needy children.

"We came to realize that our core group hasn't grown and we need to do something different," says Andy Beard, who runs a retirement planning firm. "Our businesses have changed. I'm in Davidson now. Dick is retired."

"When you're retired, you have no customers," says Dick Dunn, who ran a health plan company.

The Spokes Group started in 1994 as a friendly competition to see who could buy the most bikes. That first year their total was 17 -- 14 for Andy; 3 for Dick.

They gave the bikes to the Salvation Army, which distributes the bikes through its Christmas Bureau.

Since then, they've added people and upped the ante. It's an easy sell. Put one of the most coveted gifts imaginable -- a shiny new bike -- under the tree of a less fortunate kid.

The sons are proud of what their fathers have accomplished.

"These two have really laid a foundation for us in every aspect of our lives, from raising kids, to church, business, work ethics, and now this. They've laid the foundation and we're going to build on it," says Richard Dunn, 46.

"They taught us that this is the time of year to give back," says Will Beard, 27. "That something so simple as a bicycle can mean so much."

This year, The Spokes Group has pledged to give away 1,635 bikes, and they need your help. They rely on individual donations to help pay for them.

Some will go to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police or to Lutheran Family Services, but the bulk will go to the Salvation Army's Christmas Bureau.

There are never enough bikes for all the families signed up to receive food and gifts from the bureau. So families spin a wheel of chance and, if it lands on a bicycle, they'll take one home.

Wachovia Securities sales manager, and former radio personality, Danny Fontana joined the cause three years ago.

"It's the sheer, unadulterated joy because they know they will be able to provide something for their child," he says of watching people spin the wheel. "And the disappointment when they don't win the bike is devastating."

"Their generosity is just so amazing, especially when you see the smiles on the mothers' faces when they win," says Jim Price, development director for the Salvation Army.

Andy Beard and Dick Dunn may be giving up the day-to-day work, but they are by no means finished with the Spokes Group.

"Both of them have been buying the bikes, doing the administration stuff," says Richard Dunn. This puts them back to the original competition. So we're glad."

"This year, look out. I'm going after my friends and he's going to do the same thing," Dick says as he points to Andy.

"Absolutely," Andy says.

This year a group of the guys and their wives took an extra risk. Usually they order their bikes from a store and pay for them later. This year they ordered directly from Huffy and paid up front, taking out a $80,000 loan.

"Their wives cosigned the loan," says Fontana. "So if they don't raise the money, they're on the hook. We have to get them off the hook."

Besides a yearly debt potential, the elder Beard and Dunn are handing off a charity to their sons that has sprouted eastward.

Pete Schantz and Tony Hamby have started a Spokes Group in Winston-Salem. Beard and Dunn gave them 50 bikes this year, with Schantz and Hamby pledging to buy another 80 to distribute through Big Brothers/Big Sisters.

"If that works, then that model could be replicated across the country. Imagine the legacy that would be for all of us," says Andy.

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