Norris Guidry will be riding a new bike soon, and it’s all thanks to the efforts of one local woman and her dance team.
St. Rose resident Karen Binnings was aimlessly scrolling Facebook recently when she saw a post about Rayne teenager Norris Guidry, who was the first person to receive a “Caught You” ticket by the Rayne Police Department.
“Norris got caught cutting grass … not one but a few yards one afternoon in the on and off rain,” the now viral Facebook post explained. “One our police officers noticed and wrote him a ticket. He goes around our community cutting grass for the elderly and disabled. Sometimes he gets paid and other times he does it for free.”
The “ticket” Norris received was for a free snowball. Binnings, a St. Rose resident who co-owns the Dance Fleur Elite dance team with Dominique Seibert, said the story about Norris touched her heart.
“Every now and then you see stories that kind of warm your heart a little bit,” she said. “I thought it was so nice, but in the picture of him his bike looked kind of old.”
Binnings said she had the idea to ask the members of her dance team – who often do community service and fundraisers together – to raise money to buy Norris some new gear.
“I saw his dad commenting, and so I messaged his dad and asked him to call me,” she said, adding she was able to speak to both Norris and his dad. “This kid … he’s a hard worker and he does all this stuff and sometimes he even does it for free … it’s so sweet.”
Binnings said the dance team raised over $500 for the teenager, and that the money will go to buy him a new bike in his favorite color and other related gear.
“We were able to find him this really cool looking lime green mountain bike,” she said, adding the money will also be used to buy a water bottle attachment and a lock.
The rest of the funds raised, she said, will be put on a gift card for the 16 year old.
“I love it,” Binnings said of the team effort to bless the young man. “You can’t really find the words to explain it … every time we do something like this it just feels good that you’re making a difference. He’s a hard worker and he needs to be rewarded for that. He’s inspired people three hours away.”
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