By KATIE LEFEBVRE, Globe staff reporter
May 27, 2004

After scrounging together dollar bills and loose coins, Briar Cliff University student athletes pooled over $300 together to buy Elven Merritt, a man with special needs who works in the cafeteria on campus, a new bicycle.

Merritt lives on the Northside of Sioux City in an assisted living facility and rides his bike to campus each day to work in the cafeteria. He got involved with Briar Cliff after being part of the Grade 13 Program, which is offered through the Sioux City Schools. For this program, students come to Briar Cliff to participate in physical education classes. After the class, Merritt got involved in the cafeteria and has been working there ever since. Recently, Merritt's bike was broken and he was no longer able to ride to his job.

Marian Pesky, assistant athletic director and campus character representative for the NAIA Champions of Character Initiative, which works with student athletes to portray respect, responsibility, integrity, servant leadership and sportsmanship, said she saw Merritt walking to school one morning and picked him up.

"He was trying to get money to buy the bike," Pesky said. "I happened to be at Walmart very early one morning picking up stuff for one of my classes and I was driving to school and I saw Elven was walking over by Indian Hills. I asked him about his bike and he said that it was broken."

Pesky said at this time she began talking with some of the student athletes on campus about the situation and they came to the conclusion they were going fix the bike for him. She later found out the bike was beyond repair.

"Briar Cliff is part of the NAIA Champions of Character Initiative," Pesky explained. "Every year we have a banquet where we give awards to students, an adult fan and student athletes who portray those values (respect, responsibility, integrity, servant leadership and sportsmanship) all year long. At the banquet I asked our student athletes to donate money to buy a bike for Elven."

Pesky said purchasing the bike demonstrated all of those core values that are based in Champion of Character Initiative.

"This certainly falls in line with the mission of Briar Cliff and with our involvement in Champion of Character Initiative," Pesky said. "Even beyond that, all of our athletes recognize how dedicated he is to them and their sports. He helps get equipment out at football, he helps mop the basketball court at half-time. He participates in the half-time events. He likes to go in the training rooms and tape his wrists before games. He has very much become a part of Briar Cliff athletics."

Courtney Flaherty, a senior basketball player, echoed Pesky by saying she felt it was important to do something like this for Merritt who has become a big part of BC athletics.

"As a part of Champions of Character, I feel that it was important to raise money to buy Elven a bike because he is a part of the university," Flaherty said. "The five character values of Champions of Character are respect, integrity, sportsmanship, servant leadership, and responsibility. By helping Elven we helped fulfill these values. It was so meaningful for me because Elven has been here for so long and we have formed a relationship. He rebounded for me in the gym while shooting baskets, he was at every home basketball game cheering and he always says hello whenever you see him on campus."

Matt Mueller, a sophomore football player at Briar Cliff, said by giving the bike to Merritt the students were giving something back to someone who is always making the students smile and supporting their athletics.

"I think it's important for us to do something like that for Elven because he tries his best to support everyone at Briar Cliff and our athletics," said Mueller. "He is always at our football practices and always rides his bike down to practice. He is always screaming and hooting and hollering when he comes to practice. When we heard his bike was broken that was the first thing I thought of - he wouldn't be able to ride his bike down the hill to practice."

Within a week students had raised over $300 to purchase the bike. May 13 was the day Pesky and the athletes had slated to give Merritt his new bike. The week before the big day, Merritt decided he was going to buy a bike with the money he earned from his payroll check.

"We almost had a scare because the week before we were going to give it to him all of a sudden he was going to go buy a bike," Pesky said. "Our football coach convinced him that he could get him a deal if he waited, and a couple of football players when they took him home, went in and talked with Bill, who works with Elven to let him know what was going on."

The bike was given to Merritt on May 13 in the cafeteria. Pesky said that he was "absolutely shocked. I think that was the first time anyone of us had seen Elven speechless. His eyes got really big and he got really white. He didn't know what to do."

In a letter of thanks to the students and Briar Cliff, Merritt said, "you are nice to me. I like to help with baseball, softball, volleyball and basketball. I also like to help with football. I like my bike. I like the bike helmet. Thank you very much for giving me the bike and being so nice to me."

For Flaherty, being able to give something back to Merritt made the gift even more special for her.

"We felt that he deserved a new bike to show support for him here at Briar Cliff University," Flaherty said. "I was excited to be able to do something for Elven, especially with other athletes. I felt that it was especially special for him because athletes and supporters came together to make this whole thing possible. It just shows how much of a community that Briar Cliff really is."