Bikes needed at Wichita shop to bring Christmas joy to children

Everyone seems to remember their first bike. That’s if they’re lucky enough to get one.

The crew at Bicycle Pedaler has helped provide bikes for children during the past 30 Christmases. But they need old bikes to fix up to keep the tradition going.

“Our elves are busy fixing, washing and converting old bikes to decent functioning ones for the Toys for Tots program,” Bob and Ruth Holliday, owners of Bicycle Pedaler, said in a news release. “So if you have any bike(s), preferably children’s, that look decent with no rust, and would like to “pass it on,” please bring it to Bicycle Pedaler at 330 N Rock Rd. for refurbishing.”

Bicycle Pedaler employee Jason McCay said the shop’s received about 10 bikes so far. He thinks that’s because a lot of people don’t know they’ve started to take old bikes.

The shop will continue to taking donations through Dec. 10.

They refurbish between 100 to 200 bikes each year that are then picked up by representatives from the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves. The Marines will distribute the bikes during the annual Marine Toys for Tots program.

Last year, the program distributed 19,156 toys to 9,570 children, according to the Toys for Tots website.

This story was originally published November 11, 2019 at 5:00 AM.