The Bikes for Kids Foundation, headquartered in San Diego, California, provides bikes and helmets to under-served children around the country. This spring, a generous group of volunteers launched a Bike for Kids chapter in Denver. In their first year of operation they raised enough funds to provide brand new bicycles and helmets to more than 40 third-grade students at DPS’ Columbine Elementary. Students were initially told only the winner of the Bike for Kids essay contest titled “If I Could Change the World” would receive a bike. They gathered eagerly in the school auditorium for the announcement of the winner, but after reading several essays aloud, the Bikes for Kids volunteers threw open the stage curtains to reveal bikes for everyone! The students jumped up and down, screaming with excitement when they realized they would all be riding new bikes home from school that afternoon! More than 90 percent of students attending Columbine Elementary qualify for free & reduced lunch, and for many of these students the bikes represent both transportation and recreation they otherwise would not have.
Enormous thanks goes to the Bikes for Kids team for raising the funds, purchasing and assembling each bike. Your generosity will be remembered and echoed by these students for a lifetime.
To learn more how your organization can partner with a school, visit School Partners Program on our website.