Bicycles and Bibles

Her mother was taken by the COVID-19 pandemic just two months ago, but a Beaumont 5-year-old told her 23-year-old sister/soon-to-be adopted mom that Christmas 2021 was the best she’s ever had – all thanks to the Reaud Charitable Foundation’s annual Bicycles and Bibles event.

LeAnne was a year old when Wayne A. Reaud gave away 125 bikes at the Beaumont Civic Center ahead of Christmas 1999. As she grew, so too did Bicycles and Bibles’ giving, from 125 bikes and Bibles to 1,000 bikes, Bibles and other gifts each year. And when she became an impromptu mother, barely having the wherewithal to take on parental responsibilities accompanying a 5-year-old, let alone providing Christmas for the child, Bicycles and Bibles was there to fulfill its mission: showing compassion and spreading blessings.

Thanks to Bicycles and Bibles, LeAnne and her boyfriend were able to give the little girl a bike and Bible, along with a sackful of gifts. Without the philanthropic actions of families like the Reauds in Beaumont, some of Southeast Texas’ smallest residents might go without Christmas altogether.

LeAnne, breaking down in tears, said, “You have no idea how much this means, oh my God. My boyfriend came in with all the gifts, and this is the best Christmas my little sister has ever had.”

LeAnne plans to adopt her sister in January, when a local court will approve the family’s petition. She couldn’t afford to give the 5-year-old a gift last year, and that was before becoming an extemporaneous parent. Although the program was already closed, the Reaud Foundation was able to provide a bike, Bible, a big bag of gifts and Christmas dinner to the young family in flux.

Providing jolts of joy for those who need it most is the modus operandi of Bicycles and Bibles, organizers say, and evidence for their claim was laid bare for Southeast Texas to see for the 22nd year in a row at the Ford Park Complex Saturday, Dec. 18.

The recipients are often overwhelmed with gratitude, according to Christian Fellowship Church Pastor Rick White, who has volunteered at the event since its infancy.

White described another young family who nearly went without Christmas this year. Both parents – in their 30s – suffered a “significant” loss of income and worried about providing Christmas for their three kids between the ages of 4 and 12 – a scenario the pastor says is all too common.

“Both parents, because of COVID, their income had dropped significantly, their hours dropped significantly, and because of all the unique situations going on, one job was shut down,” he said. “So, they were without income for several, several months.

“They were wondering how Christmas was going to happen for their kids because there are three kids in the family, but all three got a really good Christmas as a result of Bikes and Bibles. They were concerned about any kind of Christmas  whatsoever for the kids. So, this was just a great blessing for that family, specifically.”

Christmas for 36,000

A man well-versed in altruistic acts, both modern and biblical, Pastor John R. Adolph called Bicycles and Bibles the “greatest act of philanthropy” he’s ever witnessed.

“It’s unbelievable,” Adolph added. “Bicycles and Bibles, for us, is a piece of what Heaven would look like on earth. To take children who come from poverty or hard times and give them the best Christmas – that has to be one of the most radical acts of Christian kindness there is.”

For the past two decades – through devastating hurricanes, economic recessions and a deadly global pandemic – thousands of children have celebrated Christmas thanks to the months-long work of the Reaud Charitable Foundation. The organization – founded by Beaumont attorney and philanthropist Wayne A. Reaud – has orchestrated a colossal Christmas-present distribution event, bringing bicycles, Bibles and a sackful of gifts to 1,000 children in Southeast Texas each year.

Wayne’s brother, Jon Reaud, manages the holiday affair, and he told The Examiner he starts making Christmas preparations in February. After months of ordering gifts, the Reaud Foundation and an army of 300 neon-shirted volunteers delivered toys and food to 1,000 children in a matter of hours at the Ford Park complex.

“We started 22 years ago with just a bike and a Bible and a stocking full of candy,” said Jon Reaud, executive director of Reaud Charitable Foundation. “It was really cold that first year we did it at the Civic Center, and we had about 125 kids. After that first year, Wayne said, ‘Look, we gotta get those kids coats.’ It was freezing.”

The Reauds’ Christmastime endeavor has snowballed to serve nearly tenfold the annual number of Beaumont children in its life. The foundation’s executive director estimated they’ve provided Christmas gifts to approximately 36,000 children in that time.

The foundation has always given bikes and Bibles to children, as the event title implies, but the Reauds decided the families’ Christmases should be a bit bigger each year. To that end, the group began giving Champion hoodies, Reaud Foundation tracksuits, London Fog parkas, T-shirts, beanies, basketballs, footballs, volleyballs, soccer balls, bike helmets, bike locks, backpacks and Nike, Converse or Vans shoes. Reaud’s giving acts inspired other Beaumont families to join in the merriment. The Jon Werner family provides soccer balls for each child, while the Glen Morgan family hopped on the benevolent bandwagon to share 1,000 teddy bears and footballs each year.

Although organizers had to alter the event from the traditional, all-day party held indoors to the drive-thru, outdoor version implemented in 2020 thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, the mass donation effort still ran smoothly, according to Young Men’s Business League (YMBL) 2018 Volunteer Chairman David Knight.

“The workshop” looked different this year, too. The normal assemblage of volunteers scattered throughout the Ford Park Arena at stations that formerly included face painting and balloon animals in a veritable festival of giving was transformed. So, for the past two years now, volunteers route recipients through the Ford Park parking lot through food and gift stations.

Families were treated to breakfast burritos from Carlito’s Mexican Restaurant and pizza from Little Caesar’s while snaking through Ford Park on the way toward the present-delivery station. Then, families were given more food right before leaving the complex in the form of a 25-pound turkey, a fruit box and enough canned sides 

to feed 10 people.

An army of volunteers, totaling approximately 300 local firefighters, YMBL members and high school students from Young Life’s ministry, buzzed around the main donation station, delivering Santa-sized sacks of toys into SUVs and trucks through hours of pouring rain. Each vehicle remained in the loading station for no more than two minutes.

Pastor Adolph said he is appreciative of the many hands that work together to make the Bicycles and Bibles event so memorable and grand for the children. Mostly, he’s “thankful for the heart of my friend, Mr. Wayne Reaud,” who instigated the innovative initiative.

Kindling a Christmas tradition

Wayne Reaud said he remembers the day he received his first bicycle and how proud he was of the new gift. He treasured it and said that he meditated on the goodness of the Lord to him and his family and the thought came to him to share bicycles and Bibles with boys and girls all across the area.

“Trying to figure out a way to share those blessings spoke to my heart several years ago,” said the Beaumont lawyer and philanthropist. “I wanted to give children a new bicycle, to share something special with them from my past. And I wanted to give them a Bible because I believe that is where they will find the fundamental truth and a code to live by. So, not only are we able to bring a smile to their faces with the gift of a bicycle, we are also able to give them a small introduction to the Lord Jesus Christ.”

He often mentions his own mom, Gena Reaud, who passed away in March 2013, as the one he credits with helping to guide him and his brother in the ways of the Lord.

“She helped teach us compassion for others,” Wayne Reaud said. “Her teaching set the foundation from which this program sprang. I believe that if we can teach a child that the fundamentals needed for life are founded in the Word of God, he or she can formulate a code to live by each and every day.”

Reaud said he came up with the idea for the annual Christmas program when he repeatedly thought about a line from scripture, specifically John 21 when Jesus told his disciple Peter, “Feed my sheep.”

“Every year the event has grown and now the foundation additionally is providing bicycles and all the other gifts to the local girls home, boys home,” Wayne Reaud explained when announcing the event. “The United States is still the greatest nation on Earth and, when times get hard, we pull together and overcome the worst of circumstances through the best of mankind.”