Downtown bike shop donates bike to Fort Myers Police Department

A downtown Fort Myers bike shop donated a bike to the Fort Myers Police Department to help reach the homeless population.

Fort Myers police officers Ryan Beiner and William Beaton make up the Homeless Outreach Team, also known as HOT, as FMPD calls it.

The Pedego eclectic bikes, donated by the shop, will allow the officers to help people they might otherwise miss.

That’s why Skip and Lisa Badolato allowed each officer to have their ride. The couple owns the Fort Myers Pedego Shop.

“The Fort Myers Police Department has been very generous to us,” Badolato said.

Pedego hosts an annual “Palooza.” The last one in April brought out nearly 150 Pedego patrons.

Officer Beiner rode along to help protect the crowd.

That’s when he got his hot take.

“I went into Pedegos office and they were very pleased that we wanted to be with their program and they actually want to donate a bike to us right up front,” Beiner said.

One was bought and one was donated. EVen in the midst of the Pedego shop owners working through Hurricane Ian’s wreckage.

“We lost the store, we had four feet of water in there,” Badolato said.

So they moved into an RV across the street from their shop and are pushing through the disaster one gift of kindness as a time.

“Everybody’s trying to work together and do the best we can in the situation we’re all in,” Badolato said.

The bikes retail for about $2,400 each.