Books and bikes collide in Charlo

CHARLO - Roper Edwards loves to read. And he loves to ride his bike.

This spring, the Charlo first grader combined one his favorite activities, reading, with a little bit of luck to win himself a new red-hot, 20-inch mountain bike as a part of the Montana Mason's "Bikes for Books" campaign.

Edwards read 31 books in about two months. For each book, he entered his name into his classroom's drawing.

"I read to my parents, sometimes I read to myself," he said. "I read in class a lot."

Then, teachers pulled one boy's and one girl's name out of each class. Those students' names were then entered into a master drawing, which took place last Thursday afternoon.

Principal Clair Rasmussen introduced the 12 finalists to the crowd of students and teachers spread across the lawn last Wednesday at Charlo Elementary School. Then, he teased them.

"Ok, let's do this tomorrow," he said. "What do you think?"

"No!" the kids shouted back.

Finally, Tony Porrazzo, the program's founding member of Masonic Lodge No. 78, reached in and pulled two names out of the bucket.

When Chloie Henifin heard Rasmussen announce her name as the winner of the girl's bike, she couldn't believe it.

"I've never won anything before," the startled second grader said. "I didn't think I would win."

Porrazzo said, "This is the best part. You get to see the face of the kid that wins the bike. That is pretty exciting."

The Masonic Lodge, which serves Lake County from Rollins to Mission, re-birthed the Bikes for Books campaign six years ago, Porrazzo said. The masons buy the bikes at cost from WalMart; the schools take over from there.

"Individual schools put their own program together," Porrazzo said. "We do this for each grade school. The kids at the smaller schools go ballistic. The more books they read, the more chances."

And at a school like Valley View or Dayton, those odds are pretty good.