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 12,000 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
Free Bikes 4 Kidz Maryland is an all-volunteer, independent affiliate of the nationals Free Bikes 4 Kidz organization. We were founded in 2019, and in that first year, we invested collected 513 bicycles and gave away 492 of them to local children in need.
Since then, our collections have grown, our volunteers have stepped up the pace, and we’ve given away thousands of bikes. Last year, our biggest year ever, we collected 3597 bikes and gave away 3345. Our six-year total has grown to 12,929 bikes collected, and volunteers have spent over 16,000 hours refurbishing and giving away 12,081 of them to children and nonprofit, almost all of them in Maryland.
Our method
We carry out a ten-week campaign every year: We collect bikes until 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.