Former city councilman bikes 56 miles on 56th birthday to fundraise for student scholarships

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – Bryan Rotary Noon Club member and former Bryan city councilman Brent Hairston on Wednesday biked 56 miles for local student scholarships.

The Bryan Noon Rotary Club works every year to raise funds to help local students in their future education efforts with scholarships. This year, Brent Hairston decided to take an alternate route to raise funds for the students. He is asking community members to donate $56 for his 56-mile biking journey on his 56th birthday. Hairston started his journey on Nov 15 by driving to Manheim and will finish by following the 56-mile road back.

“I turned 56 last Friday and I thought it’d be fun to bicycle 56 miles on my 56th birthday,” said Brent Hairston, Bryan Noon Rotary Club member and former City Councilman. “When I was contemplating doing that, I thought it might be kind of fun to see If I can get folks to donate money toward a good cause.”

In former years, the Bryan Rotary Club raised money each year for the Merrill Green Scholarship Fund and typically raised between $2500 and $4000. The club gives these funds as scholarships to students to help their education goals, said Hairston.

“Part of the reason I did this was to get in better shape… but I’ve always liked biking,” said Hairston. “Over the last two or three weeks I’ve been trying to get up to where I can bike 20 miles without much problem, 56 is a lot longer than that but I’m feeling pretty good now.”

The funds raised each year are given to multiple scholarship recipients from Bryan High, Rudder High, and Bryan Collegiate students to help fund their future, said Hairston.

“Last year Bryan Rotary donated over $22,000 in scholarships to Bryan students,” said Hairston. “We’d love to make that number even larger this year and hopefully this will help a little.”

Hairston says he’ll be donating $560 to the cause, and he challenges others to join in supporting the education of students at local schools.

“As we sit here speaking in Caldwell, I’m at about mile 33,” said Hairston. “I’ve got a little farther to go but I’m determined to get there, whatever it takes.”

People can donate to the cause by leaving a comment on the Bryan Rotary Club Facebook page saying that they want to support Hairston’s efforts here, said Hairston.