CHULA VISTA – A silver-haired grandfather, Bob Rose, tore out of the Salvation Army offices yesterday with a little girl's bike, as gleeful as if he were a kid himself.
"It's for my granddaughter," Rose said, rolling the pink and blue Huffy bike to his car to take home to 8-year-old Makayla Scott, accompanied by his daughter, Jennifer Fix.
They were the first family in line yesterday during a bike giveaway sponsored by the Chula Vista Rotary Club and administered by the South Bay Salvation Army.
More than 800 needy and low-income families signed up for the bikes with the Salvation Army. There were 125 bikes, each worth between $60 and more than $100, given away, officials said. Families with special circumstances, such as serious illnesses and dead parents, got first priority. A lottery helped determine the rest, generally was a limit of one bike per family.
"We got a call last night that we got picked," Karla Ramos of Chula Vista said. "The boys screamed and hugged me."
Her children, Karlos Ramos, 11, and Mauricio Ramos, 8, were one of the few family exceptions that got two bikes because of serious circumstances the Salvation Army would not discuss. Ramos raises the boys alone along with two other children and is currently unemployed.
Mauricio and Karlos quickly hopped on and rode around the parking lot, coasting past each other with big smiles.
"I can go see my friends," Mauricio said.
Karlos said he's going to ride to the 7-Eleven for a big Slurpee.
Families yesterday included single parents barely scraping by, young working couples with big families and grandparents raising kids.
Aurora Martinez, 72, helps care for her granddaughter, Jennifer Martinez, 9.
The elderly woman survives on $442 in Social Security income each month. She rode the bus to pick up the bike and planned to ride the bus and trolley back to San Ysidro.
"I barely have enough to eat," Martinez said. "I can't buy her anything."
The Chula Vista Rotary Club has been giving bicycles away to needy families around the holidays for more than a decade, said Lisa Johnson, a director with the club. The first year they gave away about 20, and this is the largest giveaway so far.
A manager at the Chula Vista Wal-Mart on Eastlake Parkway discounted the price of the bicycles for the club's giveaway, and more than 40 Rotary Club volunteers assembled them in an organized line on Wednesday night. The club paid for the bikes with proceeds from the 2005 Wine Taste Chula Vista event.
With tears in her eyes, Vivia Lombroso of Chula Vista thanked Rotary Club member and Salvation Army commanding officer Elicio Marquez for the bicycle she will wrap for her nephew, Brian Valdez, 8.
She's raising her nephew, and with five daughters of her own, the bike comes just in time for a joyous holiday, Lombroso said.
"It's a great help," Lombroso said. "With this I feel like the world opens up and we can celebrate."
Elena Gaona: (760) 737-7575; elena.gaona@uniontrib.com
