Boise Bicycle Project

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Volunteers Are Ready to Usher in the Holiday Season

BBP Volunteers kept the shop open four extra hours on Oct. 20 in order to refurbish 31 kids bikes.

With 31 bikes down, there are only 569 left to go!

There wasn’t a single empty bike stand left in the shop last Thursday at Boise Bicycle Project’s Thursday Volunteer Night.

Even after pulling old, retired bike stands out of the corner of the back room many volunteers had to either double up to work on a bike or set about their project from the ground. That didn’t slow them though as the crew of 23 volunteers still managed to repair 31 bikes so that Boise Bicycle Project staff can reassign them out to kids in our community.

That was only the beginning of what’s to come though.

Preparing for the Holiday Kids Bike Giveaway

BBP volunteers were in the shop to get a jump on preparing 600 kids bikes for the Holiday Kids Bike Giveaway Dec. 17.

Every year, schools; community organizations; and social workers, refer more than 500 kids in need of bikes to BBP. Those kids draw a picture of their “dream bike” during the intake process and Boise Bicycle Project volunteers work to build those bikes by refurbishing kids bikes donated by the community.

Volunteers sign up through the BBP website to either take over a stand in the back room of the shop during shop hours Wednesday - Saturday, or drop by the shop after hours on Thursdays 6 p.m. - 8 p.m.

Boise Bicycle Project’s goal is to prepare all 600 bikes by Dec. 5 so there is plenty of time to further customize each to fulfill the dream every each child who reaches out ahead of Dec. 17.

There were more volunteers than stands in the shop at the Thursday Volunteer Night, Oct. 20 - leaving some helpful hands opting to instead work on the floor.

Get Involved

It isn’t just volunteer mechanics needed to pull The Holiday Kids Bike Giveaway together. Volunteers who are interested in helping receive and prepare donated bikes in our warehouse are encouraged to sign up to help during shop hours and volunteers who can help greet families, entertain kids, and manage traffic between stations at the Dec. 17 event itself are encourage to sign up to bring it all home and help put the cap on making more than 500 dreams come true.

Read more about all BBP volunteer opportunities here: