HAM LAKE, Minn. – (July 27, 2017) – It could be a birthday present, maybe a special Christmas gift, but whenever a child receives a new bike its a special day. Bikes 4 Kids is working hard everyday to give more kids a special moment to remember.
“It’s part of growing up, you know when I grew up I always had a bike, never thought anything of it, it was just the way it was,” said John Gillis, president of Bikes 4 Kids.
Bikes 4 Kids started in 2011 and has given thousands of bikes to kids and families in need. The all volunteer organization is experiencing rapid growth which has led to some challenges. But, throughout the challenges their mission remains focused on helping as many kids as possible.
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“We collect used bikes we get them from various other organizations like police departments, individuals that contribute, other non-profit organizations that collect bikes for us, that type of thing” Gills said. “We then take those bikes and we refurbish them so that they are in as really very good condition, probably as good as they were when they were new.”
Multiple days a week volunteers fill the buildings on this Ham Lake farm to repair and restore donated bikes.
“We get everything. We get anything from some things that are easy to some things that need a lot,” said Bikes 4 Kids volunteer, Ken Johnson.
“When the bikes first come in, I take them and go through them completely take out the axles and replace any bearings and parts that need replacing and grease them and put them back together so that they work smoothly,” said another volunteer, Duane Chumley.
“I was just doing an inspection and I found things wrong with it during the inspection. there was a gear on a derailleur that was bad, and the chain is too long,” said Johnson as he was at work repairing a bike.
These volunteers can even find a purpose for donated bikes that are too damaged to get back on the road.
“We still make use of parts we do part the bike out, and what’s leftover, just put into a recycle bin and it goes to a recycle center and we do get paid for the recycling stuff that we put in the recycle bin,” Johnson explained.
Bikes 4 Kids has experienced tremendous growth over the last 7 years.
“We started out early with only a few hundred and at the end of 2016 we’d taken in 2,300 bikes and gave away just short of 1,700,” said Executive Director, Al Sannerud.
Volunteer Byron Dokken said they started small but quickly expanded.
“We started out with just Anoka county, and ended up reaching out metro wide, we work with about 90 different agencies throughout the metro,” Dokken said.
“In 2017 it’s going to outshine 2016 by quite a few bikes. We anticipate about 3,000 bikes coming in, in 2017 and probably between 850 to 1,000 giveaways,” Sannerud said.
With growth comes challenges. Originally they worked out of one building, now they occupy several. With more bikes the need for funding and volunteers also continues to grow.
“Our challenge of course is funding, and that’s why we have the Legacy Ride. Everything is baby steps and the other part is that we need to do an outreach of more volunteers and we’re starting to hear that people want to come and that’s great,” Sannerud said.
As a way to raise more awareness and funds for their work Bikes 4 Kids is holding a fundraising event for the first time.
“The Legacy Ride will start August 5, that’s on a Saturday and we’ll be leaving from the ice arena in Champlin,” Dokken said.
Gillis said they have a lot laid out for people to enjoy.
“We’ve got a great location for it over at Elm Creek Park Reserve, the trails are going to be well marked for people to be able to see where they’re going, we’re going to have food for them, we’re going to have games for kids to play, we’re going to have some face painting going on, just a lot of fun things to do, I think it’s going to be a great morning, an early afternoon for people to really enjoy themselves and get out and get some exercise, I’ve ridden and walked at Elm Creek and it is absolutely beautiful over there so I can’t imagine that people who come to it won’t have a wonderful time,” Gillis said.
In the meantime this group of dedicated volunteers will continue working to give kids the joy of riding a bike.
“Every once in a while we get to see the kids when they get their bikes, we get thank you notes, those types of things and that’s extremely rewarding to see a smile on a child’s face and to know that they’re really being affected by what we’ve done here,” Gillis said.
“I know that the people that receive the bikes enjoy them a lot, I think it makes a difference in the community, I think it makes a difference to the family unit, there’s families that can go on family bike rides, it’s a whole package deal,” said volunteer Ken Johnson.
“When we get thank you cards, and we do get a lot, there are some of them that literally make you cry and when those come I know for myself personally, all I do is turn away ,do the best I can and say, ‘hallelujah, it made a difference in somebody’s life'” concluded Sannerud.
