FOX 35 Care Force: Honoring Orange County school resource officer for donating bikes to elementary students

APOPKA, Fla. - The FOX 35 Care Force is recognizing the outstanding work of an Orange County School Resource Officer making a difference in the lives of the students at Rock Springs Elementary School.

Riding a bike is a fast and efficient way to get to school, especially when some kids are walking one to two miles each way to get to class. 

SRO Justin Lemieux started the Fill the Rack initiative to collect bicycles for kids in need.

"I think that every kid should have a bicycle," Lemieux said. "But it really has become more of an issue with transportation. We have little ones here from kindergarten to fifth grade. Some of them are walking up to a mile and a half, maybe even a little bit more to school than that every single day. Weather is not always compliant, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to make that trip a little bit easier for them."

Lemieux started the Fill the Rack program four years ago and each year it grows bigger.

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Over the years he has been able to give away an estimated 75 to 100 bikes.

He has even been able to partner with some generous donors.

"We’ve collected bikes, but also Apopka citizens police donated several bikes and some funds and we also make sure he has helmets," said Charlotte White, President of the Apopka Citizen Police Academy.

"It was awesome to be able to help the kids with bicycles," said Ricky Faircloth, Senior Pastor at Park Avenue Worship Center in Apopka.

Lemieux said he hopes to grow the program to include other schools."Hopefully we can do more," he said. "We will continue the program as long as we have donors like we do today."

For more information on how to get involved to donate bicycles, contact the Apopka Police Department.