East Boston Orient Heights Roll It Forward Donation

March 30, 2011 

Roll It Forward donated nearly 100 bikes and helmets to the kids of the Orient Heights Boston Housing Authority Development in East Boston on a sunny but chilly day in late March. We couldn't have done it without help from our partners at Bikes Not Bombs, International Bicycle Centers, and The BHA. 

Here's a little photo-aided step by step of how it all went down...

First the bikes were picked up over at International Bicycle in Newton. They have a system in place that allows customers to trade in kids bikes (that were purchased at the store) and get up to 50% of the purchase price back toward a new kids bike. It's a great way to keep your kid on the correctly sized bike without taking a huge financial hit and it's an awesome way to see that your old bikes go to happy homes. Telling your kids that their bikes went to kids who might not otherwise have bikes is way less potentially traumatizing than telling them that that their bikes went to a "bike farm upstate somewhere." Kids are smart these days, they are hard to fool...they can Google stuff. 

Moving kids bikes around is never graceful, there is no way to look like a ninja while you're doing it. That never stops RIF/YCP employee Nate Higley from trying. 

At this particular donation we were lucky enough to be dealing primarily with pre-prepped Trek and Fisher bikes (thanks again to International) so all we had to do was unload the bikes at the event site and line them up by size and gender. 

Then it was on! It was a mad rush to sign waivers and get to the bikes. The volunteers from Bikes Not Bombs were instrumental, we couldn't have done it without them. 

The helmet fitting station. As part of one of these events, all the kids get helmets. In this case they were Trek helmets donated by International Bicycle. Often we meet kids who are totally averse to the idea of wearing a helmet, but sometimes that changes when all of a sudden there are a hundred kids rolling around the neighborhood with shiny new helmets. It becomes the thing to do.

See, helmets aren't dorky. 

We also had help from volunteers. Volunteers rock!

Director of Bicycle Programs or, as she is more commonly referred to, "Bike Czar" Nicole Freedman gets in on the helmet fitting action.  

After a proper helmet fitting the kids head off the the bike fitting station where our friends from Bikes Not Bombs make sure their saddle heights are spot on. 

Then the kids roll down to the safety course for a little training session. 

Putting the "training wheels" in "training session." 

Emilia gives the kids a safety talk before they head onto the skills course. 

If there are any cycling talent scouts reading...this girl needs a pro contract. Get her in a development program NOW. She is a huge natural athlete. 

This week we'll be heading back up to Orient Heights to drop off "raincheck bikes" for a few kids who we didn't have bikes for at the event. No doubt we will see quite a few kids cruising around on their new bikes...hopefully still wearing their helmets.