Bikes for Kids events extend the spirit of the Holiday Bike Drive into the summertime, by providing the gift of bicycles to children from low-income families while bringing neighborhood communities together to celebrate bicycling.

Through our Understanding Barriers to Bicycling Project, we have learned the importance of bringing safe bikes to low-income communities and taking our programming to the neighborhoods where people live, work and play.

Last summer, we partnered with two affordable housing communities to bring the best parts of Holiday Bike Drive to residents’ front doors. At New Columbia and Native American Youth & Family Center (NAYA) we offered 150 lovingly refurbished bicycles, new helmets, and bike safety education lessons to resident children ages 3-8.

To view photos and event recaps on our blog from our 2011 Bikes for Kids events, click on the links below:

Bikes for Kids at NAYA
Bikes for Kids at New Columbia

Just like at the Holiday Bike Drive, all bicycles for Bikes for Kids have been generously donated by community members at our neighborhood bike shop and at bike collections around the Portland Metro area. Legacy Emanuel Hospital generously donates new helmets and helmet fitting training to support the events. Volunteers have helped collect, clean, and refurbish each bicycle.

At each event, a team of volunteer instructors teach children and their families safety lessons including how to secure their helmets properly, use hand signals, and how to start, stop and steer their new bicycles with confidence.

The Community Cycling Center’s Bikes for Kids events provide opportunities to bring vibrant communities together to celebrate bicycling and a summer of two-wheeled family adventures. We look forward to bringing more events to our partner communities in 2012.

Photos by Joel Schneier

Who makes these events possible?

Like all of our programs, the Bikes for Kids events are a true community effort, made possible by generous individual donors and volunteers. In 2011, we thank ODS for being our lead event sponsor and Legacy Health for supplying helmets.