Reaud Family Christmas tradition
Threats of rain and traffic on the interstate didn’t keep Santa’s helpers from turning Doggett Ford Park into a workshop rivaling the North Pole on Dec. 15, preparing approximately 1,000 homes for the Christmas holiday.
The gargantuan undertaking of Beaumont attorney and philanthropist Wayne A. Reaud and family at the helm of the Reaud Charitable Foundation brings joy and presents to 1,000 children, or more, every year – and has done so for the last 25 years. Through the “Bicycles and Bibles” program, which has grown exponentially over the last two-and-a-half decades, tens of thousands of children in Southeast Texas have spent Christmas morning with a brand-new bike to ride and children’s Bible to read of the Good News that Christmas signifies. Each child served by the program is presented with roughly $2,500 worth of gifts; in addition to new bicycles and storybook Bibles, children receive new winter coats, shoes, backpacks, clothes, footballs, basketballs, helmets, locks, soccer balls and tons of candy.
“Since the holiday program began in 1999, the foundation has given away over 25,000 bicycles and Bibles to children who otherwise would not have a Christmas at all,” the Reaud family shared.
“He’s doing what God told him to do,” Jon Reaud said of his brother, Wayne’s, mission to “feed Jesus’ sheep” and share holiday blessings with children in need. “This is our 25th anniversary of doing this.
“We still get the job done. We still make sure kids get presents for Christmas.”
Reaud said he, his brother and family are thankful to be at the helm of such a celebrated event, even as the festive soiree has transformed since COVID-19. Bicycles and Bibles has morphed into a streamlined gifting extravaganza that lauds thousands of dollars’ worth of goodies onto socially distanced families driving through the Ford Park complex and gift line in roughly 35-minute timespans. Contributors to the Wayne Reaud-led initiative continue to come back year after year, many bringing on new generations of family members to keep the tradition alive and in-tune with the children at the heart of the whole shebang.
At the 2024 Bicycles and Bibles event, the Reaud family noted volunteers in attendance from the YMBL, Young Life, the Reaud Honors College at Lamar University, Beaumont Professional Firefighters Local No. 399, the Harley Club, Evadale High School and Gulf Credit Union.
“We had a large number of individual men and women and businesspeople volunteer,” Jon Reaud added. “We start on Tuesday before the Saturday event and work all night and all day Tuesday through Saturday.”
According to Jon Reaud, who works to ready Bicycles and Bibles supplies and manpower nearly all year long, roughly 100 volunteers are on site each day until the Bicycles and Bibles event, when more than 200 volunteers pull off the massive distribution feat.
“Some of the real younger ones are out there with their parents,” Jon Reaud shared, adding that entire families rolling up their sleeves and pitching in has become normal. “It’s become kind of a family outing for volunteering. They’re bringing their children and spouses, and they’re happy to be a part of this: Reaching out and helping somebody, they want to be a part of it.”
Showtime
“Alright; we’re rolling!”
As the call goes out at 8:57 a.m., a calmly chaotic dance of distributors ensues as each position themselves for participation in a well-oiled machine similar to that of a NASCAR tire pit.
No flinches from the team, volunteers from across Beaumont and Southeast Texas manned their stations as hundreds of cars began the line-up process. In less-coordinated event scenarios, the sheer number of attendees could bog traffic and pose a safety risk – especially on the Interstate 10 feeder road, where traffic in front of Ford Park is frequently at a stand-still or slow roll.
“It takes four minutes to load out a car,” Jon Reaud, leader of the crew on behalf of brother Wayne, shared, adding that the quick turnaround is not meant to take away from the fun still to be had at the event.
Costumed characters entertained children as the drive-thru Christmas party commenced; about 1,000 breakfast burritos from Carlito’s Mexican Restaurant was provided to all the attendees; Brent Jones continued the collaboration Daniel Davis sparked with the Reaud family to serve upwards of 850 Little Caesars pizzas to families as they snaked through the line set up at Ford Park to shuttle through children and families with as little downtime as possible.
Already sorted before the children arrive are fully-assembled bikes and 50-pound bags of Christmas joy, loaded into vehicles by volunteers while windshields are cleaned and children converse with Santa.
Added post-COVID, the Wayne Reaud family personally affords each attendee with boxes of food distributed by the Southeast Texas Food Bank and volunteers into waiting vehicles just before exiting. Pastor Rick White from Christian Fellowship helps with handing out the food and frozen turkeys, and offers to share a prayer or Christmas well-wishes to those in attendance.
“He’s been with us 10 or 12 years,” Reaud said of White, someone much appreciated for making sure Jesus is not forgotten in the hype of Christmas.
“We want these kids to have a wonderful Christmas,” the Reaud family shared. “We don’t just hope for it, though; we work to make it happen as best we can.”
Serving as Santa’s stand-in to more than 1,000 children year-in and year-out is no puny undertaking. The Reaud Charitable Foundation and Beaumont Foundation of America spearhead the massive event annually, and additional Christmas presents for every child in the program were provided by the families of Wayne Reaud, Rudy Sotolongo, Glen Morgan, Robert Bertrand and John Werner.
Three food transport truckloads, nine 18-wheelers and two Penske trucks served as the big guns for bringing in the loot for distribution – but it wasn’t the only transport needed to make the day happen. Police cruisers, golf carts operated by volunteers on mics and U-Hauls rented by gift-recipient families to get the gifts home were just as commonplace.
The time to get through the line, roughly 35 minutes; the take-home, valued at more than $2,500 for each child; the end result of more than 1,000 children waking up Christmas morning to presents under the tree and food on the table, priceless.
“What a blessing it is to be a part of these kids’ Christmas every year,” the Reaud family shared.
“It’s been 25 years of people wanting to make this thing work,” John Reaud shared, adding that he, his brother Wayne Reaud and the Reaud Family Foundation couldn’t do it without the hundreds of volunteers that work to make the day special for the children served by Bicycles and Bibles.
“Stuff like that really makes it worth it,” Jon Reaud summed up.