Cheyenne Fire Rescue and Local Rotary Club Spread the Joy of Christmas

Published on December 14, 2022

CHEYENNE – Christmas came early for 36 boys and girls who made it onto Santa’s extra nice list.

Last Saturday, at the Cheyenne Fire Rescue Training Facility, local firefighters and Rotarians paid it forward, by blessing families with disabled children with a brand-new adaptive tricycle.

Along the walls of the training facility, shiny new Rifton trikes awaited the lucky boys and girls.

At 10 a.m., families came strolling in with planted smiles on their faces and a pep in their steps, surprising their sons and daughters with a gift of a lifetime. Unlike the common bike, Rifton tricycles provide accommodations to help those who are disabled with balancing skills, lower extremity strengthening, the freedom of independent movement, and the ability to have fun.

But how did the 36 children get to be so lucky you might ask? Well as the proverb goes, it takes a village…

Last year around this time, the Pugel family was given the task to spearhead a bicycle drive for the Cheyenne Firefighters IAFF Local 279 Chapter. With Kacie being a Doctor of Physical Therapy and working for Laramie County School District 1, a thought came to her; instead of taking the usual approach of providing bikes for able-bodied children, why not provide adaptive trikes for disabled children?

Sharing the idea with her husband, Nate, who oversees the 279 Chapter, Pugel presented his wife’s idea to his colleagues and from there, the magic of Christmas began.

“My husband is the head of the union’s charity foundation, and last year we kind of had the bike drive thrown into our laps last minute,” Kacie Pugel shared. “He took it to the union, and they immediately jumped on it saying it was awesome and we want to do it! Most people don’t think about adaptive bikes as giveaways and so we went from trying to get one, to the union providing funding for two, and then we reached out to the Rotary Club, and they were able to donate for two more.”

Currently, the retail market value for one tricycle is $3,000.

Through Lt. Don Wood’s connection to Traci Lacock, President of the Rotary Club of Cheyenne, CFR was able to get the help they so desperately needed.

As the season of giving back came around this year, Lacock reached out to both Pugel and Wood, expressing how the organization wanted to go bigger and sponsor even more trikes for families in need.

Taking Lacock up on her offer, Kacie Pugel began asking other physical therapists in the school district for names of people receiving PT services or in Life and PALS class groups. Parents were asked to enter their children into a drawing to receive one of the 20 trikes.

With a total of 36 participants, the Rotary Club said, they just couldn’t let 16 families down.

Pugel exclaimed, “Rotary came back and said we can’t do 20, we want to do 36! So, they bought every single kid that was on our list a bike.”

As a physical therapist, Pugel said, the opportunity for her students to have these same trikes they use in school for occupational therapy is really cool.

“Rifton came out with a brand-new model that adds resistance, which gives them sort of a workout,” Pugel commented. “Several of them have rode trikes at their school, so we knew they would enjoy them a lot, but they are expensive. They’re not cheap, and it’s really hard for our families to afford something like this when they’re already dealing with lots of other expenses. So, it was really cool Rotary was able to donate money for that many kids.”

Meeting the needs of the 36 families, the Rotary Club donated $43,000. However, the impact the members of their group made didn’t just stop at donations. Many Rotarians also helped assembled the trikes, greeted families upon their arrival at the training facility, and provided assistance with getting the children on and off their brand-new wheels.

“I’m just super, super thankful that this happened,” Pugel shared. “It really started out as a dream of one, and I was thrilled when we got four last year. It’s like mind-blowing that there are 36 this year. The families are beyond grateful and excited.”

So many people played a part in making this event a success, and we can’t thank you enough for sharing your time, talents, and spreading joy this season! A very special thanks go to the Cheyenne Rotary Club. You gave the joy that was far bigger than what these families could ever imagine!

The City of Cheyenne would also like to thank Laramie County School District 1 and Cheyenne Fire Rescue for partnering together and making it all possible. Happy holidays everyone!

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