Steven Pringle ran Build a Bicycle Therapy and Rolling Wheels, a program for rehabilitated prisoners, people with disabilities and children in need.
An Army veteran who reclaimed his life by giving to others was killed in a car crash while delivering free bicycles to children in Florida who were impacted by Hurricane Ian, his family said.
Steven Pringle, 57, ran Build a Bicycle Therapy and Rolling Wheels in his home state of Michigan. He died in Punta Gorda, Florida, last month while driving a pickup truck filled with bikes, according to the Detroit Free Press.
He was going through an intersection where a stop sign had been blown away by the fierce September storm, his family said, and was hit by an oncoming car.
Pringle ran bike programs for rehabilitated prisoners and people with disabilities. He donated bicycles to children in foster care, churches and domestic violence survivors, according to a GoFundMe page established by his children.
Pringle enlisted in the Army and served in Lebanon during the 1980s, he told the Free Press in a profile published not long before his death.
After returning home to the Upper Peninsula, he sold cars and once had his own lot.
But he fell on hard times, he told the paper, and he lost everything.
He had been living in a camper when the notion came to him of using bicycles as therapy to help others.
His first efforts went to troubled veterans, and from there he opened a bike shop. Though he gave many of his bikes away, his business grew.
“I’ve had people in the beginning who told me, ‘You donate too much,’” he told the paper. "But the more we donate, the more that comes back at the end of the day. I don’t need money. What am I gonna do with it, collect it and save it?”
His daughter, Torri Pringle, said her father found hope through his deep and abiding faith.
"He went through a lot of things in his life and he had seen a lot of things, and I think at some point he really found God and really felt like God was with him in everything he did, and he really wanted to do as much good as he could,” Pringle told the Free Press. "I think it really just made him happy."
On the fundraising site established by his kids, they vowed to continue his legacy of giving.
"As his children, we want his name and charity work to live on. We are hoping to continue his charity work for as long as possible and raise funds yearly in his honor. All donations will be used for his services and to purchase bikes for those in need."
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