Youth Bike Project

The Bike Project is a joint project of the Pasadena, Altadena and San Marino Rotary Clubs and provides 250 youth from lower income families in the surrounding San Gabriel Valley with new bikes and helmets for Christmas. This provides an opportunity for these lower income families to receive a gift during the holidays that they might not be able to receive due to family affordability. These bikes are purchased at wholesale prices because of a generous offer by Huffy. The 300 helmets and locks are purchased through a separate grant and/or with funds raised by the 3 clubs in this joint project.

These bikes will be used as a way for lower income children to commute to school who might otherwise not have access to transportation and with much needed exercise. These bikes also provide a sense of joy to the children in the following manner:

• Receiving a brand new bike at Christmas is a large ticket item that most of these children have ever experienced.
• A bike provides a child with the opportunity to be challenged by learning how to ride as well as provides a sense of independence to a child that is able to ride around their neighborhood.

The 3 Rotary clubs purchase 250 bikes, helmets and bike locks. The children are identified with the aid of the Pasadena Salvation Army as children in a lower income families and in need of transportation to and from school. This project is in its third year and has been successful in the past. This project has 3 key dates for Rotarians from all 3 clubs to join in and work together for the success of the project. In addition, a committee from all 3 clubs has been formed to work together to coordinate and organize the project.

This project as it was created in 2015. The Rotary Clubs of San Marino and Altadena joined on this project in 2016, 2017 and will do so again in 2018. There will be 3 dates for Rotarians from all 3 clubs to join and participate with hands on work. The sessions are:

Assembly Day – Rotarians from all 3 clubs join on this date at the local Pasadena Unified School District maintenance yard to assemble all 300 bikes. Additional Rotarian family members and friends are invited to join in on the bike assembly. Breakfast for all Rotarians and volunteers is cooked by the members of the Altadena Rotary Club.

Transport Day –  Rotarians from all 3 clubs will join in loading all of the bikes onto transport vehicles and transporting them to the delivery location. They will also unload, organize and place gift bows on all of the bikes in preparation for the distribution date.

Distribution Date – Rotarians from all 3 clubs will join in on distributing the bikes and helmets to the qualified families. Rotarians will also aid the families with registering their bikes with the local Police department. Rotarians also assist some family members with loading bikes into their cars if necessary.

Committee members from the 3 clubs have pledged to contact local media and invite them to both the assembly date and the distribution date. Media to be invited includes: The Pasadena Star News, Pasadena Now, Pasadena Outlook and San Marino Tribune.