COCHRANE – With support from the Cochrane Lions Club, the Kiwanis Club of Cochrane distributed 16 bikes to Cochrane Filipino community members as a part of a bike-recycling program on Aug. 7.
The Kiwanis Club of Cochrane partnered with local bike recycler Jeff Pike from GO Bike to ensure that the bikes were in proper working condition before the donation.
Ronald Gosselin, the president of the Kiwanis Club of Cochrane, said that Kiwanis began advertising the program nearly a year ago, and the bikes started coming in shortly after that.
“We got a lot of people that had, you know, good bikes and not so good bikes in their garage, that they didn’t know what to do with,” Gosselin said. “We picked up those bikes and brought them to Jeff.”
Pike recycled around 25 bikes, Gosselin said, when COVID-19 hit and put a stop to the project temporarily.
They still managed to distribute several of the bikes to the Boys and Girls Club, but could not continue the program at that time.
Gosselin said when things began to open up again, he began to reach out to various communities who might need the remaining 16 bikes, and Filipino Community Association answered.
“They responded with 52 bikes that they wanted,” Gosselin said with a chuckle. “So we said ‘well, we can offer you 16.’”
Now that the bikes have been distributed, Gosselin said he’s already looking towards next year.
“We hope to be in a position to do the same thing on a yearly basis,” he said. “That’s only part of what we’re trying to do in terms of bikes.”
Gosselin said that the Kiwanis Club of Cochrane has received a grant to host a bike safety day.
Due to the restrictions imposed by COVID-19, that program has also been put on hold.
“We were hoping to do this just about right now, however, again because we’re talking about bringing 50 kids with their families, it’s not possible with COVID, so we’re hoping to do that next spring.”
Gosselin is hoping to get a few bike mechanics from the local shops to participate in providing safety checks on the bikes.
He noted that, during these inspections, often times the problem is not the bikes, but the helmets the riders wear.
“The helmets are cracked, they’re not the right size, that kind of thing,” he said. “We already have about 30 helmets in that we’ve got in reserve right now.”
Gosselin also would like to have an RCMP officer in attendance to educate the kids and families about bike safety.
He was very happy to deliver the bikes, Gosselin said, adding the families seemed very grateful. But, it is all in a day’s work for the Kiwanis Club of Cochrane.
“Kiwanis is very simple,” he said. “It’s all about making smiles on kid’s faces.”
