Reading is fundamental. It also is rewarding. Ask any of the 18 winners of new bicycles given away in Berwyn and Cicero this summer.

Two local businesses, the World’s Largest Laundromat and Dan's Bike Shop, both in Berwyn worked together to donate 18 bicycles to children who participated in the Read to Ride program and spent a good portion of their summer reading.

Tom Benson, owner of the laundromat, is an avid reader of books on American history reading 25 to 40 books every year. Because he is “a voracious reader” he wanted to instill his love of reading on other children and thought he would reward children who read during the summer. He also wanted to thank his customers for visiting his establishment.

“It started in 2000 when I bought the business and business was good so I wanted to thank my customers,” Benson said. “I wanted this place to be kid-friendly, since more often than not the kids are dragged here. About 85 percent of the people are young families who primarily speak Spanish so I thought this would be a good way to get the kids to use English during the summer.

“There also have been some great stories with this. One little girl won a bicycle and her family had nothing. Her friend told me how much it meant for her to win. It is so nice to be able to help people out like that.”

The owner of Dan’s Bike Shop, Dan Schwanderlik, said he was approached by Benson regarding donating the bicycles and was glad to jump on board.

“This is the third year the store has been doing this,” Schwanderlik said. “Reading is the foundation of our society. If you can’t read you can’t do much so we thought if the children take the time to read all summer long, a little bit every day, then they deserve some kind of reward.”

Dustin Damelio of Cicero was one of the 16 winners and his mother, Sheila, said he was ecstatic at winning a new bike.

“Dustin read 117 beginning chapter books like 'Henry and Mudge’ so he received 117 raffle entries and he is only 6-years-old,” Sheila said of her home-schooled son. “When we got home after his soccer game we had two messages (that he had won.) When we got to the laundromat they only had girls' bikes left so then we went to Dan’s Bike Shop where he picked out his bike. He knew he won because of all the reading he did. I was very proud of him.”

Schwanderlik said the boys chose from two colors, red or green, and the girls could choose pink or purple bicycles.  Some of the winners were too big for the bikes so they received $179 credit toward a larger bike.

Sixteen bikes and helmets were awarded to children through the laundromat's reading program and Benson and Schwanderlik also donated one bicycle each to the Berwyn and Cicero public libraries.

At the libraries, the children between the ages of 6 and 15 also received a ticket for each book they completed during the summer.  One winner was chosen at each library. Kacie Albrecht was the winner at the Berwyn Public Library.

“We were out-of-town when we found out she won so, of course, we had to come home right away,” said Kacie’s mom, Teri. “She read about 100 books to qualify for the contest and was so excited (to win).”

The bike may be a little big for Kacie, who is in first grade at Jefferson School in Berwyn, but she can ride it as long as there is someone there to help her stop, her mom said.

The children are so excited about winning the bicycles, but the adults are proud of all the kids who did so much reading during their time out of school.

“We had about 10,000 entries this year, about two-thirds through the libraries, so I figure (since we started the program) between 40,000 and 50,000 books have been read and I am very proud of that,” Benson said.