HPD and CMC charities bring miles of smiles to local youth

By Dave Schafer

Smiles.

Houston police officers don’t see many during a shift through the city’s impoverished areas. But last December, they put smiles on the faces of some underprivileged youths when they donated 160 bicycles to local charities.

And smiles are contagious.

“You get a smile from giving, and you get a smile from receiving,” said Deloyd Parker, executive director of SHAPE Community Center. “Everybody smiles.”

SHAPE, which stands for Self-Help for African People through Education, was one of several local organizations to receive the bike donations. The CMC agency focuses on strengthening families and communities through various programs, including an after-school program, parenting-support program, Pan-African Cultural Festival, and a food and nutrition program

On average, HPD has about 1,500 bikes taking up more than 18,000 square feet on the second floor of its property room, said Ron Cobb, property and supplies division manager. The bikes are held because they’re part of an ongoing investigation or they’ve been abandoned.

After a judge declares a bike abandoned during a property hearing, Finance and Administration’s Property Disposal Management Office sells the salvageable bikes at auction. But with the holidays approaching, Police Chief Harold Hurtt wanted to give the bikes back to those who needed them.
So he asked members of the department’s Blue Santa program to find homes for the bikes. Hurtt wanted the bikes divided up among many charities, so they could help children in a variety of areas and situations.

“We were in a position where we could contribute the bikes to organizations that do great work for those with special needs,” Hurtt said.

Good guy smiles
HPD’s Blue Santa volunteers see a lot of smiles as they hand out presents to children at Christmas. Last year, Blue Santa, a CMC agency, raised about $115,000 for the holidays. Members used that money to buy presents for about 12,000 disadvantaged children, according to Officer Jack Hanagriff, a 22-year HPD veteran and member the organization’s board of directors.

The presents included 700 brand-new bicycles.

About 160 bikes in the property room were declared abandoned and in good enough condition to give to charity, Hanagriff said.

Officers are often seen as bad guys, hauling away fathers or busting a friend, Hanagriff said. So this is a way to give back to the community and remind people, particularly children, of the good deeds officers do in addition to protecting them.
Many of the abandoned bikes may have been stolen from youths who can’t afford a new one, he noted.

“We’ve got children who have nothing, either because of their economic situation or because every time they get something nice, it gets stolen,” Hanagriff said. “And we’ve go so many of these bikes. They were obviously stolen from the community, so lets give them back to the community.”
Christmas is a particularly poignant time to give such gifts. “It’s a special time. And some people have to choose between putting food on the table and buying a present,” he said.

Giving shouldn’t just be confined to Christmas, or even the holidays, SHAPE’s Parker said.
“We don’t put as much focus on the holiday as we do the act,” he said. “The idea of giving is universal, and it crosses all religious lines.”

Giving with a smile
City employees have created innumerable unseen smiles among the needy with their donations to CMC agencies. Last year’s campaign raised more than $647,000, an increase of nearly $16,000 from the year before.

That money gives the charities life, Parker said. Then the charities use the money to improve lives. City employees pledged more than $11,000 in donations to SHAPE during last year’s CMC campaign.

“Giving, through CMC or though any campaign, opens up the doors to a whole lot of other things for children and families,” Parker said. “It really gives opportunities for others to share. It creates an environment of giving.

“Giving offers hope, and it lets people know that someone out there cares.”

The SHAPE of a smile
Parker acknowledges that these families have bigger problems than the lack of a bicycle. But his organization is dedicated to doing whatever it takes to put a smile on children’s faces.

“These are families who are struggling, and who would not have been able to afford that kind of gift, which is something that’s common in almost every household,” Parker said.

The center gave out a total of 27 donated bikes to needy families last December, he said. The families were selected from among the hundreds the center works with each year.

If HPD hadn’t donated the bikes, there would be fewer children with a smile on their face, Parker said. “There would have been more children having to sit by watching others pass by on something they don’t have. It wouldn’t be as pleasant a moment for them.

“And it wouldn’t be as pleasant a moment for those who give. You give less, you smile less. You receive less, you smile less. It’s an interdependent circle.”