VOTED FIRST PLACE! YEARS IN A ROW-

Our Top Providers

Salina Anderson, APRN

Geraldine Alexis, LIMHP, PLADC

Julie Bierman, LCSW, LMHP

Chantel Bruha, LIMHP, LADC

Korrie Conners, LMHP, CSAT

Kirby Davis, LMHP

Peggy Deaver, LIMHP, CPC

Davin Dickerson, APRN

Beth Farrell, LCSW, LIMHP

Dumayi Gutierrez, PhD, LMHP

Lucy Hancock, MA

Charlene Hills, LCSW, LIMHP

KG Langdon, APRN

Mary Loftis, LMHP, CPC

Kim Mueller, LIMHP, CPC

Nicole Obrecht, LIMHP

Kara Schneider, BA

Marty Stoltenberg, APRN-BC

Kristi Tackett-Newburg, PhD, LIMHP

Greg Tvrdik, LIMHP, CPC

Sarah Wenzl, LMHP, CPC

Michele Yanney-Wehbi, LIMHP, CPC

Sept. 22

Location: Zorinsky Lake Main Shelter Area —madonna.org

September 24

MARGE DURHAM WALK & DOG FEST

Benefits: Nebraska Humane Society Location: Nebraska Humane Society —nehumanesociety.org

September 24

BREAD FOR LIFE BRUNCH FUNDRAISER

Benefits: Project Hope Location: Project Hope, Inc. —projecthopeomaha.org

September 24

STEP UP FOR DOWN SYNDROME WALK & FAMILY FESTIVAL

Benefits: Down Syndrome Alliance of the Midlands

Location: Werner Park —dsmidlands.org

September 24

BETWEEN THE LINES WITH MOLLY SHANNON AND SUSAN ORLEAN

Benefits: Omaha Public Library

Foundation

Sept. 24

Location: Holland Performing Arts Center —o-pa.org

September 25

CHILDREN’S CHARITY CLASSIC

Benefits: Children’s Hospital & Medical Center Omaha

Location: Omaha Country Club —childrensomaha.org

September 28

LIGHT THE NIGHT

Benefits: Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Location: Stinson Park —lightthenight.org/lopln

September 28

OMAHA GO RED FOR WOMEN EXPO

Benefits: American Heart Association

Location: Embassy Suites LaVista —americanheartomaha.ejionme.org

September 29

FOOD TRUCK WORLD TOUR

Benefits: Immigrant Legal Center + Refugee Empowerment Center Location: The Slowdown —immigrantlc.org

September 29

KANEKO SOIRÉE

Sept. 29

Benefits: KANEKO exhibitions and programming

Location: KANEKO —thekaneko.org

September 29

RITECARE CLASSIC GOLF OUTING AND BENEFIT

Benefits: RiteCare Speech and Language Clinics

Location: Dodge Riverside Golf Club —scottishriteomaha.org

September 30

A VINTAGE AFFAIR XV: THE CRYSTAL ANNIVERSARY GALA

Benefits: Autism Action Partnership Location: Embassy Suites LaVista —autismaction.org

September 30 OUT OF THE DARKNESS OMAHA WALK

Benefits: American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Location: Stinson Park —asfp.org

Event times and details are correct as of presstime, but are subject to change.

Omaha Magazine encourages readers to visit venues' websites and/or calling ahead before attending an event or visiting a museum.

At Station 5 in northeast Omaha, Tom McCoy did what all firefighters do during their long shifts: he k illed time.

“You spend 24 hours on [a shift], and when you get a call, you are out the door without hesitation,” McCoy said. “But when there isn’t a call…there is a lot of down time.”

And during that down time, McCoy had taken to getting to know a few of the neighborhood kids.

“There was this one kid we nicknamed ‘Fifty Cent.’ We had a vending machine on site and it sold pop for 50 cents,” he said. “We kept our doors open in the summer, and every day he would come around and ask everyone on site, ‘Hey, can I get 50 cents?’ Just al l the time.”

Somehow, there was always change to spare for the station’s frequent visitor, and Fifty Cent was a welcome distraction from the monotony of waiting for a call. Seeing the child light up over a cold drink on a hot day was a morale boost on even the h ardest days.

A Bicycle Built for… Three?

“One day I was outside and saw Fifty and two other kids all on his bike.” McCoy recalled. “This one old bike… one kid was riding the seat, another was sitting on the handle bars, and the other was standing on the back on the foot pegs. I asked them where their bikes were and they said they didn’t have one.”

While it was heartwarming to see kids outside playing, getting along sharing even there are some experiences McCoy felt jus t shouldn’t be mis sed out on.

“I was a military brat. I moved around a lot, but there’s that one universal childhood memory of just hopping on your bike and riding it around the neighborhood,” he said. “It’s just the greatest feeling. And even though these kids are doing a great job of making it work, it wasn’t an opportunity they had been given.”

Soon thereafter, reminis cing turned to revelation.

“We were all sitting around later that day and I thought, ‘I just know I have a bike laying around.’ One my kid outgrew and it was just sitting around collecting dust,” McCoy said. “Then a couple of the other guys said the same thing; they had a bike or two in their garages. They might need some work, but they were good bikes.”

McCoy put out the word to the department.

“We asked if anyone knew how to wrench on bikes, thinking we had a nice handful to give out to the neighborhood,” he continued. “But one thing you’ve got to know about firefighters is that they show up if you ask for a couple, you’re going to g et a dozen.”

Helmet Club Bikes for Kids was launched in June 2013 to create a space to connect over t he project.

The crew’s “handful of bikes” continued to multiply, and they needed a place to store and repair them before the giveaway. Then-Fire Captain Jerry Kleidosty stepped up in an unexpected way that first year, partnering with McCoy and his ragtag team of ‘wrenchers.’

“Jerry had started a business, Timberland Hardwood Floors. He stepped up right away and offered to be our sponsor that first year,” McCoy said. “He let us use his shop

“One day I was outside and saw Fifty and two other kids all on his bike.This one old bike… I asked them where their bikes were and they said they didn’ t have one.”

“Fifty and his friends were all there. They each got to pick out a bike, a safe bike, and one they liked,” McCoy explained. “And they each got a helmet to go with it.”

The team came together a few more years to host giveaways, but soon, Bike Rack was no longer able to take part in the event. Without his biggest sponsor, and coming up on retirement himself, McCoy had to come to terms with the fact that the mission had served its purpose and run its course.

Taking Another Spin

In 2019, Alex Emerson was in his second year on the fire department when his children had outgrown t heir bikes.

“I had heard about this program but didn’t know how to go about donating my kids’ bikes,” Emerson recalled. “I started talking with my neighbor, who is also a fireman, and he told me that the program was no longer going. We were just talking and I don’t know if he convinced me or if he let me convince him, but we agreed to start the progra m up again.” to do all of our repairs. He even made a banner for us for our giveaway event. That’s still the banner we us e, in fact.”

Emerson reached out to McCoy to learn the ropes of how he had run the Bikes for Kids program. With the groundwork in place, he set about acquiring sponsors and partners to make the project s ustainable.

Another unexpected surprise came in the form of a partnership with Bike Rack’s Steve Herbermann.

“Steve was so great to deal with, and Bike Rack was so generous,” McCoy said “We ended up with so many more bikes than we thought we could get our hands on, and Bike Rack donated a helmet for every single one.”

On July 5, 2013, the crew gave away 125 bikes and helmets to kids in the Florence area.

“I learned so much from Tom, and this program meant a lot to him,” Emerson said. “I wanted to do everything I could to get it going again. I reached out to people selling bikes on Facebook, asking if they’d be willing to donate them. I worked with Habitat Restore and set up a relationship with them. We partnered with Goodwill, too. They’ve been very good to us, donating 50 to a 100 bikes every year.

“The first year, our event was at Howard Elementary School in North Omaha. We gave away 150 bikes. We had worked really hard that first year, it was very involved. I was dropping off five bikes a week all through the winter at Bikeway, during their off season. They would fix them up for us in their down time. The firefighters were working on two or three bikes at a time, and we were working on them every day, from the day we started collecting them until the giveaway. We had to figure out some new logistics to make it sus tainable.”