Brooke Stell (right) won a new bicycle in a contest at Ocean City Intermediate School, but donated it to a friend who didn't have one, Jenna Eberwine (left).
Twice each year, Ocean City Intermediate School students participate in a program called the "Riding School Bus."
Students are encouraged to ride their bicycles to school during "Riding School Bus" week.
The program was developed about seven years ago by the city's Advisory Council on Physical Fitness and Sports as a way to promote fitness and bicycle safety. The school district works with the Ocean City Police Department to administer the program.
The Ocean City police and firefighters' unions (PBA Local No. 61 and FMBA Local No. 27) purchase two bikes each year from Tuckahoe Bike Shop to be awarded to one girl and one boy. Each student who rides to school each day is handed a ticket to put into a drawing to win a bike at the end of the week.
This year, one of the winners was Brooke Stell, a fifth-grader from Ocean City.
But Brooke realized that a new friend and neighbor didn't even have a chance to win the prize — because she didn't have a bike. Jenna Eberwine and her mother, Sharon Eberwine, lost all their possessions in
a February fire that destroyed a home at 37 Central Avenue.
Brooke decided that she really wanted Jenna to have the bike. She gave her friend the gift on Friday afternoon at the Intermediate School.
The gesture provided a happy ending to the school year for both students and proved that little bodies often carry big hearts.
