On World Bicycle Day, see how you can help by donating your old bike!

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On World Bicycle Day, see how you can help by donating your old bike!

It’s World Bicycle Day! What a perfect time to highlight a local resource you may not know about where you can donate used adult sized bicycles for a great cause … helping our neighbors! This guest blog is from Tom Williamson of Ride Again Bicycle Ministry.

My name is Tom Williamson and I am an avid cyclist. As a kid I grew up riding a BMX bike and as an adult my love for cycling continues on the roads and on the trails. I’m a member of Matthews United Methodist Church and have participated in a number of inner-city mission trips with our youth group. From this experience, I learned that there are a lot of people trying to get back on their feet that cannot just hop in their own car to get to work or to the store the way I do. So, when I was at a men’s retreat and was challenged to “do something,” I knew it had to be something involving bicycles and helping those in need. From those two passions, Ride Again Bicycle Ministry (@RideAgainBicycle) was born.

Ride Again Bicycle Ministry focuses on providing a means of transportation to those in need. We take used donated bikes and clean and repair them to give away. We have worked with shelters, recovery homes and other organizations within Union and Mecklenburg counties to help those in need to become mobile.

A benefit that was lost to us in the beginning is the physical and health benefits that come with riding a bike. We thought we were just providing a way for people to get around. Some folks going through recovery are not yet able to work and are under tighter restrictions. They may find themselves stuck around their living quarters with nothing to do all day.

The bike provides them a way to get exercise and gets their mind off of life’s problems for a little while. We don’t get to meet most of the recipients, but we have heard many stories about them. Receiving their bike is like Christmas morning for them, and they cannot wait to get out on their new bicycle.

Since the inception of Ride Again Bicycle Ministry in 2020, over 150 adult bicycles have been gifted to people in need.

If you’d like to follow our progress on Facebook and/or Instagram, you can find us at @RideAgainBicycle. Have a bike to donate? Email rideagainbicycle@gmail.com or call 704-659-1886.

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