NAMPA, Idaho — The Nampa Bicycle Project is collecting bikes from the community on Saturday and Sunday to be refurbished and distributed to the community. American Legion 201 of the Idaho Department of Corrections recycles and rebuilds the bikes.
Donated bikes can be dropped off on Saturday, May 4, from 10 am to 4 pm, and on Sunday, May 5, from 1pm to 6 pm. Bikes can be dropped off at the VRT Happy Day Transit Center.
- A significant portion of bikes refurbished come from the landfill.
- Later in May, the project will be distributing bikes at Central Elementary School. In December, Central Elementary was spared closure because of its importance as a community center.
- You can donate to the Nampa Bicycle Project here.
- An Amazon registry for the Nampa Bicycle Project is available here.
(Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)
"For some kids, it is their first bike, for some kids, we've even had to teach them how to ride," recalled Nampa Bicycle Project director LaRita Schandorff.
The Nampa Bicycle Project is seeking bicycle and equipment donations on Saturday and Sunday. This year the non-profit has been giving out bikes to the community through Nampa schools.
Partnering with the Department of Corrections and American Legion 201, Legion members are busy refurbishing bikes ahead of the event.
"Oh my gosh, the importance is, our veterans that are incarcerated have honorable discharges and they honorably served the country and this gives them purpose on the inside," says American Legion District 3 Vice Commander Mark Person. "It gives them a way to give back to the community that they unfortunately took from and gives them a way to make amends."
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The American Legion isn't the only group involved in the project.
"The Nampa Bicycle Project does not have a shop currently so in lieu of that we have been permission to use storage space and we really really appreciate that," added Schandorff.
A significant portion of bikes are recycled - once destined to take up space in the dump.
"These were someone's garbage. These were literally pulled out of the landfill, they are literally trash, they're just a frame, nothing to them, they look like garbage. They clean them up, they polish them, recycle every little piece they can and then they turn them into what you see," says Person.
Later in May, the project will be distributing bikes at Central Elementary School. In December, Central Elementary was spared closure because of its importance as a community center.
Department of Corrections Program Manager Jeff Kirkman told me, "It's integral to that part of Nampa because that's the only school in that area because they provide a lot of resources to not only the kids but to the families of those kids in that area."
