In October 2025, leaders from every AdventHealth campus in Johnson and Franklin Counties came together for a powerful day of service hosted in partnership with LEVEL 12 during their Ultimate Bike Building Program. The event resulted in the assembly and donation of 25 brand-new bicycles to children and families across the Kansas City metropolitan region.
AdventHealth teams worked side-by-side to build new and name-brand bikes that would go on to support students and families through various community organizations.
“As a community of leaders driven by our mission of extending the healing ministry of Christ, we selected this program to benefit our community of neighbors knowing that, for children, bikes build character and confidence,” said Dave Kennedy, MDiv, DMin, vice president of mission and ministry for AdventHealth Mid-America Region. “The newly built bicycles were donated to six local organizations, each with a unique plan to use the bikes to inspire, reward and support children.”
Partner organizations included:
- Boone Elementary School with Center School District where bikes will be used as rewards for students who exemplify Boone’s core character traits of being respectful, responsible and safe.
- Indian Creek Elementary School with Center School District where bikes will be raffled during parent nights and parent-teacher conferences to encourage engagement and celebrate positive behavior.
- Growing Futures Early Childhood Center in Overland Park, Kansas, where bikes will be distributed during the winter break event to families with older children, alongside essential holiday support items.
- Child Abuse Prevention Association where bikes will be gifted to families receiving counseling services, with one bike designated as a “community bike” for shared neighborhood use.
- Life Spring Church and the Spring Hill SOS Event at Spring Hill School District where bikes will be given to students participating in the SOS Event, which provides school supplies, physicals, helmets and haircuts to more than 100 students annually.
- Shawanoe Elementary School with the Shawnee Mission School District where bikes will be raffled off during a family night and the PTA Carnival to promote school spirit and family involvement.
“Every day at AdventHealth, we look for new ways to give back to the community we love and care for,” said Sondra Wallace, director of community benefit for AdventHealth Mid-America Region. “We believe that caring for the whole person – body, mind and spirit – is what matters most. Giving children the chance to feel whole by getting access to a bike, a staple of childhood, is one of many ways we are caring for them now and caring for their future.”
Since 1962, AdventHealth Shawnee Mission has been proud to support initiatives that align with its mission through compassionate service, regional impact and community engagement.
