50 kids bikes delivered to local agencies

Just in time for the holidays, our Bike Recycling Program has refurbished and delivered
fifty children’s bicycles to a number of Athens area social service agencies. Dozens of generous donors have dropped off children’s bicycles, many of which have been in basements for years. Volunteers met three times a week at the Bike Recycling workshop in the Chase Street warehouses to clean, repair, and test ride each bicycle.

Every bike has been delivered with a brand new helmet as well.

Bicycles and helmets were delivered to the following agencies:

• 23 bikes to Fowler Elementary
• 14 to CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates)
• 2 to Project Safe
• 2 to Open Hearts
• 2 bikes for St Vincent DePaul
• 2 for Athens Land Trust
• 3 kids bikes and 3 adult bicycles for the Athens Area Homeless Shelter
• Plus, a handful of extra children’s bikes for other agencies

“We never would have succeeded without the overwhelming generosity of the community,” said
Bike Recycling Program co‐manager Jason Perry.

“We received so many donations‐‐from kids, from adults, from organizations‐‐that we struggled to keep them from piling up. And of course our volunteers really made things happen: many of the bikes only needed a little cleaning and a tune‐up, but often we were doing major overhauls on bikes that started out looking like scrap metal. The results were amazing.”

In 2009, the Bike Recycling Program hopes to locate a larger, more comfortable work space as well as a dedicated contingent of new volunteers to assist with ongoing efforts to refurbish adult bicycles. Donations poured in this fall, and the Chase Street workshop is brimming with bikes in need of repair.

Volunteers can stop by the workshop on Wednesday evenings from 6:00 – 8:30 PM and on Sunday afternoons from 2:00‐4:30 PM. Program managers also hope to expand the shop hours to Monday evenings in the new year. For more about the program and directions to the shop, visit
www.bikeathens.com/activities/bike_recycling.

Many thanks to all the volunteers and donors who made this possible!