Bikes Program Donates to Pilot program at Canastota

RFH 2010, Featured Articles, News

Sat, Jul 10, 2010

Community Bikes of Hamilton has donated a dozen bicycles and helmets to Canastota Central School to enable the school to begin a pilot program for junior high school students.

Linda Bonczek, Health and Physical Education teacher, said that the bikes will be used to initiate a program this fall that promotes bike safety, fitness, health and wellness and socialization skills.

“This is a wonderful resource for our program,” said Bonczek. “Our goal is to begin with a bike education program, then expand to include an after school riding program, mountain biking along the canal and bike maintenance.” Bonczek said the school has no budget for this activity, so the contribution of bikes from Community Bikes was critical.

Canastota students first became involved with Community Bikes this past spring when Bonczek brought a group of students to volunteer in cleaning bikes (in photo) in advance of a bike giveaway day in April. She said that having the students volunteer was a great learning experience and a valuable community service project.

Community Bikes collects donated bicycles and refurbishes them for families in Madison County who can’t afford them. Nearly 300 bicycles were placed with families in April. Community Bikes also provided bicycles for Madison Central School to initiate a biking program as part of the school’s physical education curriculum.

Community Bikes coordinator Chuck Fox said that the program looks forward to opportunities to work with other schools and organizations. “An important part of our mission is to engage the community in the process of providing bicycles for those who might not otherwise have access to a bike,” said Fox. “Linda has done a terrific job of initiating a program that has fitness and health benefits, and provides an important opportunity for community service.”

For information about Community Bikes contact 824-8210.

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