HOUSTON — The Relief Gang, Trae tha Truth and Altus Foundation teamed up to give 150 bicycles away to families near Greenspoint.
Why wait until Christmas when De’Armon Lacour, 9, needed a lift now? His bicycle never had a seat and broke last year. Since then, his mom, Latoya, who is out of work and battling ovarian cancer, needed to see her son fit in.
“All of his friends (have bikes) and he just sits outside on the curb. I wasn’t able to get the other one fixed,” she said.
“The chain popped and I couldn’t fix it,” De’Armon said.
Trae tha Truth, his Relief Gang and partners with the Altus Foundation stepped in and passed out wheels Tuesday night.
They gave 150 bicycles to families with proven need. Each wrote letters explaining why their children needed bikes. Also each family had to prove financial hardship.
“The biggest struggle that (the Altus Foundation has) always had is making sure that the people that are obtaining these are deserving,” Anil Motwani, president of the Altus Foundation said. “No one has ironed out that whole process except for Trae. This man is like Santa.”
Started after Hurricane Harvey, Trae's Relief Gang offers some kind of giveaway almost every week. Often Trae is present even at the expense of his career.
“I get my blessings from sharing my blessings,” Trae said. “For the first year-and-a-half I just totally stopped rapping. So even I (have) an album out now and it kind of got pushed to the side while we (rescued) people (during Tropical Storm) Imelda.”
He juggles because the impact is often life-changing.
“We all (are about) to celebrate,” Latoya Lacour said. “(De’Armon) got his Christmas gift early and I’m not going to take it from him.”