1,000 kids receive free meals thanks to man’s bike ride

A Pueblo man’s bike ride to Houston resulted in 1,000 free healthy meals for kids.

Last month, Gabriel Arellano rode his bike to Houston from Pueblo to raise awareness about childhood obesity.

“Most people thought it was a joke,” he said. “It was daunting. Ninety percent of the time, I wanted to turn around as opposed to keep going.”

But his mission kept him going.

On Monday, his company donated 1,000 meals to the Cooperative Care Center in Pueblo, one meal for every mile.

“It’s a drop in the bucket, but every meal counts,” Arellano said.

Former Broncos defensive tackle Antwon Burton helped pass out the meals.

“You don’t know what their circumstance or what their situation is, this could be such a big deal in a person’s life as far as health, maybe their son or daughter is playing a sport and they need that nutrition, they need that meal,” he said.

Arellano plans a bike ride to Fort Lauderdale, in which he hopes to raise enough money for 5,000 meals.