By November 2023, area nonprofit Free Bikes 4 Kidz (FB4K) had hoped to give away 75 refurbished bicycles to low-income kids in the area.
As of the end of August, less than one year after the nonprofit was established in November 2021, the organization was already close to exceeding its goal, having given away 67 bikes to area youth so far.
“What we do is we take bikes in from the community or from organizations that want to donate, or we take back bikes that we’ve donated, and refurbish them and send them on to the next generation, you know, the next wave,” said FB4K Morgantown President Jeremy Blizard, who also heads local electronics repair and recycling organization Nerd Rage.
Once a kid grows out of the bike, he said, they can come back for a new one and will ideally re-donate the old one.
FB4K has collected 164 bikes since it first began, but Blizard said the majority of the work has been done since the organization received a West Virginia Try This grant in July.
“The Try This grant was the $3,000 we needed to become officially part of the [national FB4K] program and that was two months ago — so for two months we have really been going hard,” he said.
Even though the group is reaching many of its goals early, that doesn’t mean members are going to sit back and relax. Now instead of 75 bikes given away by November 2023, FB4K hopes to hit 100 bikes by the end of 2022.
“It’s exciting to see how quickly we are making progress on these things but we are going to keep shifting the goalpost,” said FB4K board member and Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture Vaike Haas.
As Morgantown and West Virginia increase focus on outdoor recreation and expand trail networks, programs like FB4K hope to help ensure equity to bike access and greenspace.
“With all the income disparities of our region, I think it’s really important that everybody be invited,” Haas said. “That it’s not just people who can afford fancy mountain bikes or who already have bikes.”
FB4K is one of 10 local organizations working as partners in the Youth Cycling Coalition (YCC) Pilot Program in Morgantown.
As a YCC partner, FB4K will be able to work closely with other area youth cycling programs to provide bikes for their participants, take in and refurbish old bikes from the programs, as well as help kids learn the vocational side of bicycle repair.
“As these partnerships form we’re excited to see the synergy,” Haas said. “That’s the whole point of YCC pilot city – they wanted to see what happens when you put all things in the same town at once – so we’ll find out.”
Haas said it’s important to get kids started now at younger ages so in the future we have riders to support the increased trail infrastructure being developed.
“I think it’s really fantastic to get this program launched before the trail infrastructure really increases,” she said. “It’s sort of building future trail users.”
Due to the unanticipated growth of FB4K, the current priority is finding more space to not only store and repair bikes, but also to teach kids bike repair skills.
Blizard said YCC partners want to get kids in their programs involved with repairing the bikes, “and we want to teach them, but we don’t have the room right now – we’re working out of two sheds at our technician’s house.
The nonprofit is looking into several possibilities for a more long-term location, but currently looking for a partner who can share enough space for them to set up five bike stands and store bikes.
“You know we’ve got bikes piled up,” Blizard said. “We’re just trying to get everything going right now.”
Even younger children who are still too small for pedal bikes will be able to benefit from the program with Strider Bikes that are donated to FB4K from Amazon returns.
Blizard said the group received its first shipment of 36 bikes sent by freight truck on a 600-ppound palette in February.
Haas said the current space issue is delaying shipments of other bulk donations from groups like Working Bikes in Chicago.
“They’re ready to donate a whole Penske truck full of bikes – but we don’t have space for them,” she said. “So we are having to wait to take that order of bikes.”
Haas said the organization’s long-term goal was to be a hub for the entire state, not just Morgantown, but until the space issues are worked out, that will be difficult.
In these beginning stages, FB4K is mainly distributing the bikes on its own, however members want to be able to focus on the bikes themselves. So, the bikes will eventually be available through partner organizations who will distribute them at their discretion.
Blizard said current partners Christian Help, St. Ursula Food Pantry and Outreach, and Children’s Home Society of WV – Morgantown Site will be provided with bikes in the next few weeks and that is where you will be able to pick up a bicycle.
The group is hoping to increase access by building partnerships with more groups in the future, but for now, FB4K is bringing bikes to events throughout the community, as well as a truckload of bikes for giveaway to the Star City Farmer’s Market every Friday through September. They are hoping to distribute the entire load each week.
Haas said if they run out of bikes at the market, or there isn’t an appropriately sized bike available, they will also have request forms available, so any kid who needs a bike will hopefully receive one.
“We’ve also been working with WVU Children’s Medicine who have been coming to events with us to give out helmets for free, so that’s been really helpful,” Blizard said.
The group is hoping to keep going year-round, but will likely slow down in winter after the fall crunch, Haas said.
With the rapid growth they are experiencing, FB4K is looking for anyone who wants to help or volunteer in any way and will accept volunteers through IServe at WVU.
Blizard said there is an array of things the group could use some help with including transporting bikes, helping distribute bikes, and helping repair bikes. Members also need tools and parts as well as help fixing an old van that was donated by the Book Exchange.
“Space. We need space,” he stressed.
As with any nonprofit, monetary donations are also greatly needed. A $25 donation will allow FB4K to repair and give away one bike to a local kid.
To find out more about how you can donate a bike, receive a bike, volunteer, or make a monetary donation, visit FB4K Morgantown’s website fb4kwv.org or follow their social media @fb4kwv. Donations by check can also be mailed to FB4K Morgantown at P.O. Box 4073, Morgantown, WV 26505.
