For the past five months, Scooter Mart has been quietly giving away bikes to people in need.

It has become a passion project for the Paget dealership. Staff there looked around the community, saw how many people were struggling and decided to do something to help.

Yesterday the team presented an Aprilia SR Motard 50cc to Alvon Brangman as part of its Community Support Programme.

Like others who have benefited from the initiative, he wouldn’t have been able to buy the brand new bike on his own.

The monthly giveaways by the company, which sits on Lovers Lane just off Middle Road, are promoted on Instagram as #BermyFamily and aptly described as a “community support gift”.

Nick Thomson, Scooter Mart’s president, hopes it encourages other businesses to do something similar.

“This initiative means so much to me and to our team. It makes us feel great every month,” he said. “The gift of transportation can really change people’s lives – and we have witnessed that to be true first-hand.

“My goal is for other companies to adopt initiatives similar to this because I believe this is what it means to be Bermudian – to help your neighbours out, [to help people] who are in need, [to help whenever] they need a hand. And they will do the same when you one day need a hand also.”

The philanthropic initiative kicked off last October. People were invited to contact Scooter Mart by e-mail, explaining their need.

“We only need people to write two to three short sentences about why they could use a new motorcycle and how a motorcycle can really help them out,” he said.

In January “a lovely young lady” who battled with unreliable transportation in her daily journeys between Sandys and St George’s for work, picked out a 2024 Honda Beat.

Scooter Mart loved that Mr Brangman, who has physical challenges, showed up at his job consistently “rain, blow or shine”.

“He absolutely loves to ride his bike! He has been dealing with an old 50cc scooter that was getting very unreliable and expensive to maintain.

“A working bike gives Alvon freedom and lets him do what he loves more than anything – ride!”

The Community Support Programme gives people the bike of their choice, a year of insurance, TCD registration “and all other unique costs necessary to own a vehicle in Bermuda – rust-proofing, locks, alarm systems, etc”.

On Instagram, Scooter Mart played down its gifts.

“We feel incredibly blessed and grateful to be able to help people out with the gift of transportation.

“Everyone goes through a tough patch every now and then. We believe that it's our obligation to help out our Bermudian family.

“We’re all on this rock together and we will all be stronger if we work together!”

So far the company has received between 20 and 30 applicants each month.

“Most people express just how tough it is to get by in a place where the cost of living is high without having an income to match. Many worry that they aren’t able to provide their children with a good life.

“It is very hard to decide who gets to win – and sometimes quite depressing,” Mr Thomson said. “We try to allow a different manager to choose the winner each month.

“We’ve known that it hasn’t been easy in Bermuda recently – which is why we started this initiative. But even still, for many of us it has certainly been an eye-opener to see how many people are struggling these days to ‘stay afloat’ in Bermuda.

“There seems to be much less charitable giving these days from Bermudian companies [although] I do understand that Bermudian businesses are generally less profitable these days than they were ten to twenty years ago.”

Although the company has always had philanthropy as a goal, the Community Support Programme is its biggest community contribution to date.

“We’ve done smaller efforts before around Christmas time, usually for single mothers in Bermuda – but nothing at this scale before,” Mr Thomson said.

“So far it’s been going great, and as long as our company continues to be successful we plan to continue doing this and hopefully, in the future, we will do much, much more, and have a greater and greater impact.”

For Scooter Mart staff, the response to the giveaways has been a huge reward.

“People are ecstatic,” Mr Thomson said. “Many have cried in our arms and it really makes us feel proud of ourselves. It’s such a great feeling to do good for your community.

“Helping just one person to provide for their family is just a completely priceless experience that cannot be measured or described. It’s a joy for our entire team.”

• To apply for the Community Support Programme e-mail community@scootermart.bm. For more information, follow@scootermarton Instagram or visitscootermart.bm/