TCEP Community Give Back Program: Host a Child Bike Helmet Giveaway In Your Hometown!

At the January 2020 board meeting, the board agreed to fund and support the TMA Hard Hats for Little Heads bike helmet giveaway program. The board allocated $2500 toward the program with Dr. Hemant Vankawala personally matching an additional $2500. With that money, TCEP is able to purchase approximately 1200 helmets that TCEP members can give to children in your community.

TCEP will kick off the program on Thursday, April 2 in Ft. Worth, the day before Connect 2020. Physicians will be on hand to help with fitting the helmets on children in the 2nd and 3rd grade at Waverly Park Elementary School in Ft. Worth. It is our intention to fit and distribute 225 helmets at that event. The remaining helmets will be available to members who sign up and organize a local event.

Evan Meyer, MD, a Wichita Falls emergency physician, helped 350 local kids stay safer when he hosted a Hard Hats helmet giveaway for his TMA Leadership College project. “I see a lot of head trauma in kids that could be prevented,” said Dr. Meyer. “I found out about the program and wanted to do something.”

Emergency physicians can get a special benefit. TCEP members can get up to 50 helmets at no cost to host a local Hard Hats helmet giveaway. TCEP covers your cost for up to 25 helmets, and TMA doubles that with an equal match of free helmets. Helmets are available to TCEP members on a first-come, first-served basis while the supply lasts.

TMA has everything you will need to host an event, including helmets, publicity and media support, and educational materials. While you are able to get up to 50 helmets at no charge (while supplies last), TMA’s program provides additional free helmets if you want to purchase more helmets. For example, if Dr. Meyer bought 25 extra helmets, TMA would give him 25 more at no cost to hand out. TMA’s high-quality helmets are inexpensive, too; helmets purchased through TMA cost only $7.85 each, including shipping. The helmets have a retail value of $22.

Dr. Meyer has hosted several events at his local hospital’s emergency department and area schools during the spring months, a key push time for the Hard Hats bicycle helmet giveaway program. March is Brain Injury Awareness Month; Texas Child Safety Month is in April; and May is Bike Month.

Dr. Meyer also is featured in TMA’s Hard Hats helmet fit video.

Start planning your event now. Physicians wishing to learn how to sponsor a helmet giveaway should contact Tammy Wishard, TMA outreach coordinator, at (512) 370-1470.

More than 350,000 little Texans have received a free helmet from TMA since the Hard Hats program began in 1994.

Hard Hats for Little Heads is supported in 2020 with a grant from the TMA Foundation.