'Great collaboration between Iceland and Canada': Bike helmets from Iceland donated to kids in Gimli

Terry and Sam Sekhon giving kids in Gimli bike helmets that were donated from Iceland. Aug. 1, 2022. (Source: Terry Sekhon)

From Iceland to Gimli, a Manitoba couple was able to provide dozens of bicycle helmets to children.

Terry Sekhon and her husband Sam presented the children of Gimli with helmets on Monday that were donated from Iceland, part of an initiative that has been in the works for the last couple of years.

Sekhon said it all started in 2019, when she and her husband travelled to Iceland, as Sam was the Kiwanis trustee responsible for the country.

"When we were there, we went to a banquet and at the banquet, we were presented two helmets for our two grandsons," said Sekhon.

She said she learned helmets have been donated to kids in Iceland for several years, as a company called Eimskip provides them to a committee in the country.

Sekhon said she wanted to start something similar in Gimli and she reached an agreement to have helmets donated from Iceland.

But before the plan could be put into action, COVID hit and everything was put on pause.

However, she said she kept in contact with the chair of the helmet program in Iceland and two months ago they got the go-ahead to receive a shipment of helmets.

Sekhon said she received 93 helmets in total and they showed up at the perfect time.

"We did not know we were getting them during the Icelandic Festival."

She said she quickly had to work with festival organizers to find some time during the event to present these helmets to children.

"We presented the helmets to Icelandic kids, Ukrainian refugees, kids in the community…It was very well received, everybody was happy. We donated yesterday 60 helmets," she said, adding the other 33 helmets will be donated to Kiwanis school kids in Gimli once the school year starts up again.

"This is the first time this project has ever been done and it was a great collaboration between Iceland and Canada."

She said a project like this is important for kids because it promotes safety and also helps parents save a bit of money, noting that helmets are not cheap.

Moving forward, Sekhon hopes this is something that becomes a yearly tradition.