Hello Everyone,
You may donate a bike or money to the Hub of Detroit and think to yourself, “Where does it all go?” Well I’m here to answer part of that question. If you donate a kid’s bike (20″ or smaller) to us…we give them to kids!
For years we have been rebuilding donated bikes and giving them away every December. Since 2010 we have started doing this twice a year because once is not enough. In 2010 we gave away 123 bikes to youth under 8 years of age. I really wanted to top that this year.
In July of 2011 we gave out 63 bikes to youth which was surprising considering how many bikes we had gotten out last year. However, giving a young child a new (or possibly their first) bike is something that is difficult to be disappointed in. This winter I wanted to give out more. My goal usually is to give out all the bikes we have in our warehouse. We came pretty close this year.
As I mentioned before, I partnered with St. John’s Health Systems, Solomon’s Cathedral, Gardner Elementary, Academy of The Americas, and The Guidance Center of River Rouge. They helped me get 87 bikes to youth under the age of 8. It was great to work with all these groups and meet the families getting the bikes. Along with the photo posted above I put a gallery up on our Facebook page and my own gallery at this link. So check those out if you want to see some of the students from the two Detroit Public Schools we worked with. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get photos of all 87 youth, I was busy wrenching seats up and down so the kid would be able to ride as soon as they got home!
So for 2011 we were able to give out 150 bikes over two Give-a-Way events. The most exciting part of this for me is that I know I have to top this in 2012. So I know I’ll need plenty of donations from everyone as well as some strong volunteer effort to build all the bikes up. Lets aim for 200 bikes in 2012 huh? If the number keeps going up it can only mean one thing: The future of Detroit cycling will only be brighter.
Think of the first time you received a bicycle. For many people it is a sacred memory that shaped the rest of their lives. The small little Huffy with training wheels may not have been the perfect bike but it could be what started you down the path to go grocery shopping with your bike as an adult. Or maybe it planted the seed in your head that lead you to take that cross country tour by bike? Or if nothing else, hopefully it made you more aware of cyclists as you drive your car around your community.
With this number added to our total, I can also go ahead and report that we’ve given out 322 bikes to youth this year. That is all through our free programming. Whether it was through Give-a-Ways to the young ones, at our bike shop during Youth Earn-a-Bike or off campus at Detroit Community Schools…we got some kids on bikes. Again, the future of Detroit cycling is being built right now.
I just got a report from Jack that about 170 bikes were sold in our Retail Service Center. So for every bike that was donated and sold, we gave away two bikes to youth under 16 years old for free.
Thumbsup ya’ll,
jason x