8-year-old Marlie Seaver donated her 20” bike to mountain bike enthusiast Frank Halsey. Halsey founded Gunn Park Trails, a bike trail system in Fort Scott’s largest park.
“The bike is a 20” Guardian that her parents Josh and Melinda Seaver bought her last fall,” Halsey said. “The company, Guardian Bikes, as seen on the 2017 episode of Shark Tank, teamed with Mark Cuban, has a trade-in policy that requires the old bike to be donated to a charitable organization that promotes bike riding and biking safety. The Seaver family knew of Gunn Park Trails and reached out to me.”
“My husband Josh and I had tried for quite awhile to teach Marlie to ride a bike,” Melinda Seavers said. ” Finally after trying other bikes we did some research and found a company called Guardian Bikes online. They have great reviews and an amazing 365-day guarantee on all of their bikes. ”
“If your kid won’t ride it, can’t ride it, if it’s too big, if it’s too small they will refund your purchase or allow you to exchange for the correct size (which we did) and allow you to donate the original bike to a nonprofit of your choice,” she said “Last fall we purchased the bike for Marlie and she learned to ride it with no problems the very same day! After this winter when we got the bike out for her to ride this Spring it was too small for her. We contacted Guardian Bikes and they said to locate a charity we would like to donate to.”
“My husband and I used to be next door neighbors with Frank Halsey and we have followed along with his journey in creating and maintaining the Gunn Park Trails. I contacted him to find out if the bike would be useful to his project in any way to raffle or raise money for the trails or any of the many events they would be hosting in the future. ”
“He said there is an organization called NICA (National Interscholastic Cycling Association) that was coming to help with the cleanup efforts of the trails after the recent flood in April canceled their event and damaged many parts of the trails. It sounded like the perfect fit for Marlie to donate her bike to since she really loved the bike and wanted it to go to a good cause here in Fort Scott. We met Frank at the Gunn Park Trails sign early this week to take a picture to send to Guardian Bikes to show them where our bike was donated.”
“I’m not sure what Frank and the NICA will decide is the best way to use the bike for their efforts but we were happy they could benefit from it in some way,” she said.
Frank Halsey has the idea to raffle the bike off at a future event to help fund the maintenance of the trails.
About The Trails
According to Frank Halsey, Gunn Park Trails was started in 2009, by him and his “bunch of misfit volunteers.”
Today there are approximately 8.5 miles of mountain bike trails, ranging from easy to difficult. These trails are maintained by volunteers, and attract visitors from all over, including the Annual Marmaton Massacre Festival.
They are also trying to develop a more complete skills park and pump track on the property immediately before entering the park. Additional funding is being sought to make this more permanent.
