Eleven-year-old Brian Lyons was
understandably upset when his bicycle was stolen out of his yard in Plymouth
last year. Fortunately, he didn’t have to wait long before two donors stepped
up to replace it for him. Known about town and on social media as the Junior
Fire Chief of Elm Hill Hose Company No. 3), Lyons is notoriously generous. He’s
sold tens of thousands of cups of lemonade with most of the proceeds going to
local fire companies. So, it’s not surprising that when the Pennsylvania State
Police ended up with a like-new bicycle unclaimed in their evidence room, they
thought of Brian.
With
no need for a third bike, Brian automatically thought of helping others, his
mother Linda told the Center. “He said ‘I don't want to be greedy, Mom. I want
to give it to somebody who doesn't have one,” she said. “He spoke with the
trooper that brought the bike down to him and asked if it would be okay if he
paid it forward, and gave it to the McCauley house.”
Valued
at around $300, the bicycle is meant for a child ages 7-11. Brian actually made the State
Trooper ride the bicycle up and down the street to make sure it was safe, Linda
recalled. A resident of Plymouth for 25 years, she has known about the
Catherine McAuley House for a long time and often encourages her friends to
make donations.
“I'm
working on trying to get a helmet and a lock but I haven't had any luck with that
yet, she said. “I thought that would be important to have after what happened
to (Brian’s old bike). We have a fenced-in yard and I left it in the yard and
the next day it was gone. So now Brian’s big on locks.”
When
Brian was younger, she said, he spoke so rarely because of his autism they had
begun to teach him sign language. Then one day as they drove by the fire hall,
he saw the truck outside getting washed. “Brian started banging on the back
window and he said, “STOP,” so we stopped and he got out and he was interested
in the firetruck,” Linda shared. “I spoke to the Chief and I asked if he
would show Brian the fire truck when he had time, and he literally dropped
everything.” A few days later, The Chief contacted them to ask if Brian would like
to go for a ride on the truck.”They let him spray the hoses and all this stuff,
it was really cool,” she said.
Three
months later, when Brian sold $500 worth of cookies for school he was told he
could bring a friend to Grotto Pizza and Brian asked if he could take the Chief. They've
been friends ever since and three or four years ago The Chief gave Brian a
plaque reading “official Junior Fire Chief” for his birthday. Fascinated with
the “jaws of life” he saw on other fire engines, Brian insisted on raising the
money to buy one for Elm Hill Hose Company No. 3 when he found out they didn’t
have one. His mother didn’t discourage him but she didn’t initially think he
could raise so much money selling lemonade.
“He
had lemonade stands in front of businesses, the whole Community got together,”
she said. “They let him (sell lemonade in the Kielbasa Festival. In five weeks,
he sold 10500 cups of lemonade and people started dropping off donations and he
bought the jaws of life for his engine.” Since COVID-19 restricted public
selling, Brian began a virtual lemonade stand. This summer he was able to
donate $5,000 split between 15 different Fire Stations in Luzerne County.
Update:
A helmet was later donated by Tammy Rynkiewicz. Thank you!