Adoption tour pulls into town
BY SUSAN W. THURMAN
After riding 375 miles on bicycles, 82 riders pulled into Columbia to bring attention to the more than 350 Tennessee children who are eligible for adoption and looking for “a forever family.”
A large number of adoption supporters, including some of the bike riders’ families, were there Friday to greet them for the Adoption Tour ‘09 Celebration, lining the entrance to the Columbia Mall parking area, holding posters, cheering, shaking homemade pom-poms, clapping and managing to slap hands with some of the bike riders as they rode by.
A 45-minute celebration ensued in the parking lot near Bruster’s Ice Cream with the bike riders visiting with those attending the celebration. Short speeches from employees with the Department of Children’s Services and others whose lives have been touched by adoption were part of the celebration.
DCS regional administrator Lisa Banks encouraged her audience to talk to others because “you just might be surprised at how many people’s lives have been touched by adoption.”
Gina Hensley, wife of State Rep. Joey Hensley, R-Hohenwald, spoke about being adopted and how she and her husband have two adopted daughters. She said she’s a big advocate for adoption because she knows first hand how important a family is to a child.
“There’s no difference in the love you can have for an adopted child, either,” she said.
Jordon Galecoski, 15, has been riding in the tour since she was 13. She rides because she had four adopted siblings. She has also doubled her cause on the tour with a little pink rubber ducky with a pink breast cancer awareness ribbon on its breast tied to the top of her bike helmet. She said she knows a lot of women with breast cancer.
Fellow tour rider, Michael Yates, also sports a duck as he joins her in that cause, as well as being a big supporter of adoption.
“I work for an adoption service in Knoxville, and I have two adopted nephews,” he said.
The Adoption Tour ‘09 started Oct. 5 in Johnson City. The riders have ridden across the state, stopping in Maryville, Chattanooga and Manchester for celebrations before pulling into Columbia.
By the time the tour pulled into Nashville Friday night, where they had a big final celebration, they traveled 433.7 miles to draw attention to the children across the state who are available for adoption.
This is the fifth year for the tour, and the first time the tour has come through Columbia. Yates said they had 50 riders last year and said he was pleased at how the number of riders has grown.
According to a brochure, the Adoption Tour was born in 2005, “combining the ultimate symbol of childhood — a bicycle — with a dream of connecting partner agencies and DCS offices across the state for the purpose of finding homes for children and celebrating all the wonderful families that have grown bigger as a result of this work.”
Jordon Galecoski, 15, and Michael Yates have two causes. Two of 82 bike riders on the Adoption Tour ’09, which is a celebration of and brings awareness to adoption, have two pink duckies on their helmets for October’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Jordon says she knows a lot of women with breast cancer, and Yates said he wanted to join her in highlighting the cause. Staff photo by Susan W. Thurman
It also states other ways to help other than adoption: foster parenting, mentoring a child, helping find families willing to adopt or joining next year’s Adoption Tour.
Julie Flannery, a former DCS employee who now works for Harmony Adoptions out of Knoxville, said contrary to the belief that it takes thousands of dollars to adopt a child, adoption through DCS is free.