Our Story
In 2008 Free Bikes 4 Kidz gave away 250 bikes in Minneapolis. Now we give away 10,000 bikes or more every year in fourteen locations around the U.S. It’s a simple concept: You have bikes you no longer need. We know kids and families who do.
In 2019 Free Bikes 4 Kidz rode in to Maryland! In our first year we collected, refurbished, and gave away 492 bikes. We’ve grown quite a bit since then, and have given away over 9000 bikes to date.
Mission & Purpose
Free Bikes 4 Kidz is a Minneapolis-based non-profit organization geared toward helping all kids ride into a happier, healthier childhood by providing bikes to those most in need. Free Bikes 4 Kidz Maryland is an affiliate with the same M.O.: The public donates gently used bikes, we organize scores of volunteers to clean and refurbish them, and then we give them away to kids in need. Free Bikes 4 Kidz now has 18 affiliates including Maryland, with more on the way:
Free Bikes 4 Kidz National (the mothership!)
Georgia (Atlanta and Macon)
Oregon (Eugene-Springfield and Portland)
Maryland results
In 2019, we invested over 1500 hours of volunteer labor to collect 513 bicycles. We were able to refurbish and give away all but 20 of them: 415 to children in need, 38 to Howard County Schools’ Bicycle Safety Program, and 40 to five other nonprofit organizations. Read our FY 2024 annual report here.
In our Fall campaign in 2020, we collected 911 bikes; our volunteers invested over 2200 hours of effort to refurbish over 95% of them, and we gave away 847 to local children in need and 27 to nonprofit organizations. In 2021, due to new partnership with the Howard County, we’ve been collecting bikes from the Alpha Ridge recycling center in addition to our annual campaign, and we collected 2012 bikes and gave away 1811 of them. In 2022, we collected over 3000 bikes and gave away almost 2800.
Our method
We carry out a ten-week campaign every year: We collect bikes in early October, spend ten weeks cleaning and refurbishing them using volunteers, and then we give them away in December to children identified by local social service agencies and nonprofit partners. Then we rest and prepare to for the next campaign!
Our source
Every year 25 million bikes are sold in the US. One-third of those bikes are 20” wheel-size, or smaller. Since kids grow like weeds, over 8 million bikes are virtually outgrown each year. Endless supply. Sustainability.
Our Board of Directors
Free Bikes 4 Kidz is driven by a passionate and invested board of directors and a dedicated volunteer staff. Free Bikes 4 Kidz Maryland, our local affiliate, has an equally passionate board of directors.
Find out more here.
FAQs
We’ve done our best to answer the most frequent questions we’ve encountered, but if you’re not finding the answer you’re looking for, feel free to contact us.
Read the FAQsOur Partners and Sponsors
Though the generous help of our sponsors including The Howard Hughes Corporation, Howard County, Prologis, The Harkins Foundation, Safe Kids, Park Tool, Trek Baltimore, Quality Bicycle Products, the Maryland Highway Safety Office, and BGE, Free Bikes 4 Kidz Maryland has established the foundation for a sustained presence to help every kid in Maryland ride into a healthier, happier childhood.
Annual Reports and other documents
You can find these here.