Our History
Bikes For Kids was conceived in 2019 to provide bikes for underprivileged children in Northern Indiana. The organization was started by Mark and Cathy Sage (Bios on About Us page).
Why did we start BFK? - Mark and Cathy's grandson, Damian (pictured above), received a new bicycle for his birthday in November of 2019. He was 6 years old at the time and we asked him what he wanted to do with his old bike that he no longer needed. His response was, "can I give it to another child that cannot afford one?" That response started us thinking and after considerable research, we're making Damian's wish a reality on a larger scale.
Between November '19 and May 2020 we started collecting bikes in cooperation with Chip Dean of The Integrity Academy of Marshall Arts in Plymouth, Indiana. We received help from our great bike mechanics, Dan Atkinson, Richard Patterson and Joe Barnes, to get the bikes ready. Norma Atkinson, a Certified Bike Instructor, also helped match the bikes to the kids on the day of the giveaway event. Numerous other volunteers made the event a success as well. During our first giveaway at River Park Square in Plymouth, we delivered approximately 100 bicycles to local kids and served lunch to over 275 people.
We held our 2nd annual giveaway at Centennial Park in Plymouth, Indiana at the Freymen Shelter and gave away 250 bikes. Blissville Church servied lunch to over 650 people. Many local merchants donated coupons for their products and we had two TV stations and three radio stations cover the event.
During our 3rd annual giveaway on April 16th, 2022, we gave away 352 bikes. We used both the Freymen and Hoosier Old Wheels Shelters for this event. Blissville Church provided 800 lunches to local residents. Continental Express provide two semi trailers for bike transport and the Integrity Acadamy of Martial Arts provided the bike unloading crew and the food runners. Other individual and corporate donors helped us greatly. We had one TV station and two radio stations cover the event. Unfortunately, we ran out of bikes well before we ran out of kids that needed them and had to turn away over 30 carloads of deserving kids.
Our goal is to acquire and/or refurbish over 500 bikes for our 4th annual giveaway on Easter Weekend, 2023. We are looking for Civic, Corporate and Individual Sponsors to help us raise $20,000.00+ for the next event. As of 12/31/22, we have approximately 300 bikes ready to go and we need to buy and/or rebuild 200 more bikes fo reach our goal.
Bikes For Kids, Inc. 19329 6B Road, Plymouth, Indiana 46563
One of our proudest moments during the 2021 giveaway event was donating a special needs tricycle to St. Joseph Health System Rehabilitation Services, to help several children that needed this equipment for their therapy.