On Saturday, Family Promise of Carbon County hosted its third annual Family Promise Bike Trail Ride at Weissport Park to benefit homeless families in the area.

Family Promise is one of the only emergency shelters in Carbon County for families who are experiencing homelessness.

Since its establishment in 2009, the program has been helping homeless families ever since by providing temporary shelters, meals and safe places to sleep.

Executive Director of Family Promise of Carbon County Krista Brown-Ly explained that this event is one of the largest ones that they host throughout the year.

“We ask individuals to sign up to go on a (bike) ride out to Glen Onoko and back, and the money that we raise we use for our families, Brown-Ly said. “This will help us cover meals, new cots, clothing, diapers, anything like that that the families need. Everything benefits the families that are in our program.”

Tracy Hall and her son, Brian were just a few of the individuals who participated in the event, biking over 13 miles round trip to Glen Onoko in Jim Thorpe and back. The two came to the event from Philadelphia.

With Tracy’s mother being a Jim Thorpe resident and a dedicated member of Family Promise, she and her son enjoy the opportunity to visit and help out the organization.

Tracy Hall said, “It’s a great way for us to get some exercise and then also give back at the same time. It was a really fun event and a great day for a bike ride, too.”

The event abided by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines as a result of COVID-19, which included mask usage, social distancing and a hand sanitizer station.

Brown-Ly said that interested individuals could also participate virtually as well.

“Anyone who registered with us and decided to do it virtually, they can cycle, walk or run whatever distance they want and then all they need to do is post a picture on our Facebook page.”

Besides the bike riding event, Family Promise also hosted other activities for participants to take part in at the park such as live music from Tammy G., food and a basket raffle.

With this being a family event, characters from a Reading-based organization named Cosplayers Care were also in attendance to entertain the children at the park. These characters included superheroes such as Spider-Man, Superman and Batman as well as Disney princesses like Elsa, Anna and Belle.

To volunteer or learn more about donating to Family Promise of Carbon County, visit www.familypromisecarboncounty.org or the group’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/FamilyPromiseofCarbonCounty.