'Everyone gets a bike!' Squad of volunteers roll up with new bicycles for 60 elementary students

Some Cumberland County kids went home from school happy on Thursday.

All of the third-graders at Sunnyside Elementary school took home not only their school books and homework – they each took home a new bike.

The students thought they were writing essays to win one of three bicycles – but got the surprise of a lifetime when a squad of volunteers rolled up with bikes for everyone.

The students were given an assignment: Read the book titled Think Big. Work Hard. Be Kind. No Excuses. Then, write an essay.

"My essay was about me going to the WNBA," said Londyn Anderson, a student at the school. "The education I need for this career is to pass high school, pass college to be ready for the WNBA."

It was a great essay – good enough to make Londyn Anderson the first winner of a new bike.

Two more essays were read and the last two bikes were given away.

"I was bummed out because I was like, aw man, I didn't win," said Harlee Hales, another student. "Okay, better luck next time!"

But the students didn't know that 60 volunteers were waiting in the hallway ready to spring a big surprise.

"Everyone gets a bike!" shouted the assistant principal over the microphone.

That's right: All 60 students who wrote essays were given bikes, compliments of Old Fayetteville Insurance, the company that donated the bikes and put them together.

"This is just a small token of them working hard this fall," said Paige Ross, with Old Fayetteville Insurance. "Writing papers and reading a book about character and learning, and they get to reap the rewards of their work."

This is the second year the real estate company surprised youngsters in Cumberland County. Last year, 80 students from Westarea Elementary School took home new bikes.