THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 31, 1996 TAG: 9603310092
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
Eight-year-old Crashetta Thomas had her eye on a shiny, hot pink one.
Sheldon Floyd, 11, liked the sporty, mottled-blue-and-silver model.
Both got their hearts' desire Saturday.
They were among 139 inner-city kids to receive free helmets in a bicycle safety workshop at First Baptist Church-Bute Street. All are third- through fifth-graders at Young Park Elementary School.
The giveaway was the brainchild of 14-year-old Archie Nelson III, an Eagle Scout candidate who lives in Virginia Beach. He raised more than $1,000 to buy the headgear by pitching his plan to Norfolk businesses.
Nelson is an eighth-grader at St. Gregory the Great Catholic School in Virginia Beach. He goes to church at First Baptist, and that's where his Boy Scout troop, No. 77, meets.
And he's going to see to it that all 246 Young Park students get the protective headgear. The school draws its students from nearby Young Terrace, a public housing project, and many of the kids come from single-parent households.
Nelson focused his Eagle Scout service project on the school after realizing that most parents probably couldn't afford to pay the $35 or more each helmet costs.
``I want them to know the consequences, why they should use a helmet, that it's not a toy, that it can protect their bodies,'' said Nelson, who wouldn't think of riding his own bike without first donning a helmet.
As Nelson found out, it takes a lot of helping hands to pull off a project of such magnitude. Before he reached his goal, he'd gotten the willing cooperation of a host of people, from his parents to city officials and health-care professionals. The scout service requirement is aimed at fostering leadership and teaching youths how to overcome obstacles.
``I knew the whole project wouldn't go smoothly, that there'd be downfalls satisfaction at the stacks of sleek helmets that awaited distribution.
Virginia Beach requires that children wear bicycle helmets, and Norfolk is expected to pass a similar ordinance in about six months, so Nelson's project was a timely one.
Bike accidents are the second leading cause of preventable childhood fatalities, according to Cheryl Bunting, who coordinates the Safe Kids Coalition of Hampton Roads and community health at Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters. It was Bunting who told Nelson about the helmets he could get for $4 each through the national Safe Kids Coalition.
When Nelson began casting about for a suitable project last summer, he got encouragement from his parents, Carrol Rhodes-Nelson and Archie Nelson Jr.
Rhodes-Nelson teaches early childhood education at Norfolk State University, and Nelson teaches at Ruffner Middle School in Norfolk.
Nelson said his son has expressed a desire to become a pediatric neurosurgeon.
Young Nelson got support, too, from Scout Master James Smith Jr. and city officials, and others joined hands with him as the six-month effort mounted - Monte Bible, a doctor whose 4-year-old son had suffered a concussion in a bike fall, Norfolk Bike Safety Officers Tony Mathias and Allan Koenig, and Ruby Greer, Young Park principal.
Nelson also volunteers his time to help the church's youth ministry package SHARE food orders each month.
``He's doing a very good thing'' in making sure so many kids have head protection, said Nelson's friend and fellow scout Brandon Foster-Gray, 13, who hopes to come up with a project of equal value when it comes time to work on his Eagle Scout badge. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
LAWRENCE JACKSON/The Virginian-Pilot
Archie Nelson III, 14, an Eagle Scout candidate, raised more than
$1,000 to buy the helmets by pitching his plan to Norfolk
businesses. He learned valuable lessons. ``I knew the whole project
wouldn't go smoothly, that there'd be downfalls . . . because that's
what life's like,'' he said.
by CNB