The National Settlement Services Summit isn’t just about title industry support and improvement. It’s also about community improvement. And that’s no more evident than at the Make a Child Smile: Charity Bicycle Building Event sponsored by Winward Consulting | Software LLC. At this year's Summit, volunteers spent an afternoon with the October Research staff assembling bicycles that will be donated to a northeast Ohio organization named Guidestone. 

Last year's event was a huge success with over 30 bicycles going to children in the Northeast Ohio area, and this year’s event was just as exciting — building approximately 60 bikes. 

“We’d love to make this annual event. I would challenge anyone else who would like to help put together bikes, lending time, treasure, talent, money and anything else to make this bigger. Last year, we received letters from the kids who got bikes. It was pretty cool,” said Curt Szymanski, president of Winward Consulting | Software LLC and the exclusive sales partner with Adeptive Software Corp. for ResWare. 

“Last year, the bikes went to kids at our residential treatment center. Those kids have been through abuse and neglect. This year, the bikes will again go to kids at the residential treatment center and to some the 17,000 children we serve in the community as well,” said Kelley Likes, Advancement Coordinator at Berea Children's Home and Family Services. “We truly thank you for choosing Guidestone. These children truly appreciate this gift.”

Guidestone began as an orphanage and has transformed into an organization that serves children needing specialized, therapeutic programs. Today, they are one of Ohio’s leading organizations, employing more than 900 professionals, serving 15,000 children annually. 

"We are proud to help Guidestone make a difference in children's lives in Ohio. We are blessed at Winward and Adeptive with explosive growth, amazing clients, incredible market penetration with ResWare, and this event is just one way we can 'give back' to the world and community what has been bestowed on us. Guidestone is an amazing organization with a passionate purpose and vision to make a difference in children's lives and futures and we are honored to be part of that," said Szymanski. "We are elated that October Research allows us to annually have this event at the Summit so the participants can share in this worthwhile event."

"We are pleased to have Winward sponsor this philanthropic event for the second consecutive year," said Erica Meyer, chief executive officer and publisher of October Research LLC. "Building bikes for Guidestone has become an important part of the annual Summit, and we were thrilled with the outpouring of participation from attendees this year."