BANGOR – The Brain Injury Association of Maine has teamed with three greenhouse nurseries to provide children in Maine with free bicycle helmets through a grant from the Maine Bureau of Highway Safety.

The event will be held 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, May 17, at the Sprague’s Nursery in Bangor, Longfellow’s Greenhouse in Manchester and O’Donal’s Nursery in Gorham.

Two hundred helmets will be properly fitted at each of the nurseries for a total of 600 helmets given statewide. Helmets are offered on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Each year, more than 1.4 million Americans receive a traumatic brain injury due to accidents, trauma or illness such as stroke, tumor and infection. In Maine, more than 7,000 people live with a brain injury. With traumatic brain injury occurring every 23 seconds, this public health concern ranks as the leading cause of death and disability in children and young adults.

For those who survive and their families, brain injury can be life-altering with serious impairments.

The Brain Injury Association of Maine provides programs and support services that help families cope and adapt to the unpredictable situations and challenges presented to them when a loved one sustains a brain injury.

For information about the helmet event or the Brain Injury Association of Maine, e-mail Kristie LeBlanc at kleblanc@biame.org.