Bike shop owner one of Hallmark's 'Heroes'
During the toughest of times when caring for a son stricken with cerebral palsy, Hal and Julie Honeyman asked questions that had no immediate answers.
"In the whole experience with our son Jacob, who is now 15, we can look back at a lot of intense, life-or-death moments," said Hal, whose family has operated the Bike Rack in St. Charles for the past 30 years. "And you find yourself asking, 'What's this all about?' "
The answer came to light after building a bike their son could ride and the resulting "higher purpose," Hal said.
That purpose was the creation about 11 years ago of Creative Mobility, a program designed to build adaptive bikes for kids and injured veterans with disabilities. The bikes, which cost anywhere between $2,000 and $4,000, end up in the hands of grateful families because of donations.
This noble cause of seeking donations to be able to present bikes as Christmas gifts was reported in a Daily Herald story a few months ago, Hal said, and spotted by producers of the Hallmark Channel, which was looking for "Hallmark Heroes" to show on a Christmas night telecast.
That program aired in conjunction with the Honeyman family delivering donated adaptive bikes over the holidays to three area children.
"The Hallmark show turned out really good for us and we have had people making donations from what they have seen in the newspapers and on TV," Hal said. "They did about 20 hours of filming at the Bike Rack and also our bike day at Pottawatomie Park."
Hal's sister, Tammy Simmons, works closely with her brother with Creative Mobility and said the TV exposure was "wonderful" and that neighbors of some of the children came through with donations for the bikes.
In addition to years of helping area children, the Honeymans are involved with Wounded Warriors and will participate in a Project Mobility bike ride in Florida in a couple of weeks.
"We go down and tune up and fit the bikes for the soldiers," said Hal, adding that 25 bikes have been donated for this cause.
Anyone interested in donating to the adaptive bike projects can get information at projectmobility.org.
New place to chow: As I have noted before, items in this column about food tend to get a lot of responses.
With that in mind, here's a new place to consider for breaking in the new year. The Geneva Commons lost Roly Poly sandwiches, but gained Chi-Town Grill in its spot. The restaurant opened a few weeks ago and has the look and feel of a big-city deli.
Cheap eats: If you're looking to spend only a buck, restaurant owner Bob Karas is offering his dine-in-only $1 hamburgers and hot dogs through the month of January at Rookies in St. Charles.
Karas also owns the Village Squire restaurants, and I gobbled up a pretty decent cheeseburger at the Randall Road location just last week.
Pizza feedback: When I mentioned my craving for a Tom's Pizza from years ago in St. Charles, a couple of readers shared similar cravings for ghosts of pizzas past.
Kathy Edgar of St. Charles said that Villa Pizza near the Depot Museum was one of her favorites years ago when she lived in Batavia.
A few others spoke fondly of the pizza offered in the lower level of the Manor Restaurant years ago, and I believe that recipe was transferred over to Munchie P's, which offers a fine pizza.
Jeff and Pat Sartain of St. Charles said they continued to search for a pizza that was as good as those they had when they lived in Chicago, and finally found it at Pizza Cucina in Wasco, where they claim the thin-crust cheese and sausage pizza is the best. Their mouths were watering just thinking about it, they said.
Not the cameraman: Most of the guys in my service club say it's hard to believe that we'll be celebrating the club's 30th anniversary on Tuesday night at the Hotel Baker, where the first meeting was held in 1979.
I don't believe I will be asked to take pictures at this event, honoring the Tri-Cities Exchange Club.
I took pictures at the 20th anniversary party 10 years ago, only to discover afterward that I had no film in my camera. Yes, I know a digital camera eliminates the possibility of a repeat of that buffoonery, but I think we'll try our luck with someone else this time.
In any case, congratulations to the guys who have been with the club since its inception, providing thousands of dollars through the years for our local and national cause of prevention of child abuse.
dheun@sbcglobal.net