Giving was on the brain at Edwardsburg’s annual Books for Bikes program at Eagle Lake Elementary School.

The Books for Bikes program has been sponsored by the Masonic Lodge for the past seven years. The program, in which third graders at Eagle Lake competed, gives students the opportunity to be drawn to win a bike through reading. The number of entries a student gets in the drawing is based on the number of books they have read.

“We started this program in honor of my mom, who passed away. She was an avid reader and taught me how to read,” said Robert Parrish, of the Masonic Lodge. “This is my way of remembering my mother.”

Ten bikes were given away in total this year; eight names were drawn from student readers and two names were drawn from a long list of students who were nominated by their teachers as “good citizens.”

Students who walked away with a bike were Oliva Ward, Ethan Farisno, Kylie Segal, Chloe Cloud, Ella Bailey, Jack Higley, Mack Welch, Gavin Roe, Kaylen Hommen and Davie Haiser. Hommen and Haiser were drawn from the list of nominated “good citizens.”

In a surprising moment, two students whose names were drawn for reading to win a bike, Owen Snodgrass and Aiden Dome, declared that they did not need the bikes. Instead, they offered to let other students who may not already have a bike have the opportunity to win one. This gesture gained strong applause from the audience and moved Parrish to tears.

“[They are] demonstrating some of the qualities a Mason wants you to grow up to be like,” said Principal Deborah Becraft as she announced that the students told her he would like someone else to have the bike. “This is important to everyone here, because they all want you to grow up to be good citizens. When we see such generosity from our students, it makes us all feel heartfelt.”

Dome and Snodgrass then were allowed to draw the names of the two boys who would be taking the two bikes they gave up: Welch and Roe.

Members of the Masonic Lodge said they were proud of the event and were happy to provide so many children with new bikes and to have encouraged reading among young students.

“We started very small with only a few bikes and we have just grown over the years,” Parrish said. “We are very happy that the Masonic Lodge was able to donate 10 bikes this year.”

State Rep. Dave Pagel also attended and spoke briefly at the event.

“Congratulations to all of you who read. I love reading books,” Pagel said. “Keep it up. Reading is something you can do all your life.”

The Greater Niles Federal Credit Union provided doughnuts and juice boxes to the children involved.