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Patriot Auto Group in Bartlesville donates 300 bikes to local kids in need this Christmas season.

Dealer Principal Tatton Manning says they do all that they can to donate one bike for every car that they sell in December. Manning says they either gave some of the bikes to certain organizations or they gave the bikes to those that were nominated at their Bartlesville stores. He says the event is great for the community, their 429 employees and their customers.

Manning says it is helpful for their employees to know that a piece of every car they sell is going towards this initiative. He says it is a great way for them to quantify, too; If they sell 135 cars, they know that they are going to be delivering 135 bikes.

Manning says this program is also good for their customers because they know that Patriot is out supporting the communities they live in.

This program started five years ago. Eric Mills, the founder of Faces with Names, told Manning what the process was like for kids who are put into foster care. Manning says Mills told him that kids are often put into foster care in the middle of the night after a horrible family situation. He says the police get involved and hand the kids a black trash bag so that they can take whatever they may need with them. Most of the time this move does not include fun items.

Mills would ask Manning to help children in foster care all those years ago. Manning says he responded to Mills by reaching out with his partner, Seth Knighton, to a friend of their's from college that works at DHS in Bartlesville. He says they helped 36 kids in their first year.

When they dropped off the bikes in their first year, Manning and company didn't know Tom, Johnny or Sue. Manning says they "only knew nine-year-old boy and six-year-old girl," because the information for each child was confidential. He says they could see the impact their gifts made to the kids at DHS, because they witnessed the kids crying when they made the delivery.

That experience has impacted the growing program at Patriot Auto Group in Bartlesville ever since. Aundi Collins with Patriot starts scouring Walmart for bikes in early-November. Manning says Knighton crunches the numbers in terms of how many bikes need to go where. He says this is a full-time effort from November until Christmas week.

Statewide, Patriot is delivering approximately 1,000 bicycles for the holiday. Manning says 86 bikes went to DHS. He says all the bikes would be delivered before Christmas on Saturday.

Families in need in the Bartlesville area came to Patriot Auto Group's two locations in Bartlesville to pick up their bikes. Manning says they dropped off bikes at DHS and at the Westside Community Center in Bartlesville as well. He says masks were worn during delivery.

Manning says the more that they give the more they see the need of others. He says they do all that they can to honor their kids and their families by partnering with them. He says it helps them see how important it is to give each and every Christmas season.

Patriot Auto Group has delivered over 3,500 bikes in the program's first five years. Manning says they have locations in five different cities in Oklahoma. He says they can be found from Bartlesville to Ardmore.

Looking ahead, Manning says they will get ready to sponsor hundreds of students in 4-H and FFA in March. Manning says they will then prepare to give away five cars in May. He says 2021 may soon be over, but they will keep going at Patriot Auto.