Through collaboration efforts between Free Bikes 4 Kidz Madison, Wheels for Winners, Dream Bikes, Village Bicycle Project, and Working Bikes in Chicago, over 500 bikes will be loaded into a shipping container on Oct. 27 and 28 and headed for Ghana.
The shipping container will be loaded at the Free Bikes 4 Kidz bike shop all day on Friday, Oct. 27 and continue on Saturday morning until the work is completed.
Working Bikes, a non-profit out of Chicago whose mission is to strengthen local and global communities by giving donated bicycles new life and redistributing them as tools for self-determination, spearheaded this collaborative effort.
“We bring over 10,000 bicycles a year to our warehouse in Chicago, sending them out to folks who need transportation in our community and communities across the globe,” Trevor Clarke, the executive director of Working Bikes, said in a statement. “We’re thrilled to be collaborating with our friends in Madison to, for the first time, send a container directly from Wisconsin to our partners abroad.”
Bike donations that have been provided to organizations like Free Bikes 4 Kidz Madison, Wheels for Winners, and Dream Bikes are bikes that aren’t necessarily great for a Dane County riding environment, but are ideal for roads in Ghana. There, through the work of the Village Bicycle Project, bicycles will provide time-saving transportation that significantly increases access to income, health and education.
Free Bikes 4 Kidz Madison is a 501c3 nonprofit that held its first bike giveaway in spring 2017 and has a mission to provide bikes to individuals in Dane County who wouldn’t otherwise have access to them.
“We’ve had an excellent partnership with Working Bikes for years. They send bikes to adults all over the world, and we give bikes to kids locally. Sometimes, we trade bikes to make sure recipients receive bikes best suited for their environments,” said Free Bikes 4 Kidz Madison Executive Director Kristie GoForth. “While big box full suspension bikes might not be great for Wisconsin riding, they’re just what the folks in Ghana love.
“Our teamwork with Working Bikes has shipped bikes from Dane County to places like El Salvador and Malawi, especially after being devastated by cyclones. With the support of Dane County’s generous contributions, it’s incredible to see that we are able to provide approximately 2,000 bikes locally each year, while also extending our reach internationally to countries in need.”
Volunteers from all over the midwest will come to Free Bikes 4 Kidz Madison bike shop at 354 Coyier Lane this weekend to load the shipping containers for Ghana.
