JOPLIN, MISSOURI -
Valentines Day is sweet in a different way for students at Irving Elementary in Joplin, Missouri. Brand new bikes for every student are a gift of love from Payless Shoes.
Before the big reveal the company talked to students inside, showing a video created with some of their own students talking about what was lost in the tornado.
Students were told they'd get a reward for singing their school song and outside they found bikes in their favorite colors.
207 bikes were presented.
Payless officials say it's rewarding to help the community.
"We actually got more out of it than the kids did," says Steve Gish, the Payless Shoe Source Executive Vice President of Retail Operations. "I mean, you should have seen the looks on our teams employees faces seeing the kids getting the bikes."
Irving Elementary Principal Debbie Fort says it's exactly what many students needed.
"They are so happy," says Principal Debbie Fort. "We sent permission slips home at the last possible minute Thursday and I had parents call me, thanking me and crying, saying 'they had nothing to do in the FEMA trailers, they needed this bike, thank you so much.'"
Many students lined up to personally thank local and regional Payless employees for their new wheels.
Payless workers from around the world assembled the bikes as teams during a recent conference in Kansas City.
