Cycling enthusiasts Lee Blais and Charles Thomas want to make cycling accessible to more children in Port Alberni. The pair, owners of Jumping Slug Community Cyclery, are hoping to achieve that with a free kids’ bike exchange on Sunday, March 5.
“It’s something we’ve been thinking about for a while,” Thomas said. “Wanting to make bikes more accessible for children is a big piece of it.”
“There are a lot of families that can’t afford bikes,” Blais said. “Back when I was young everybody had one or rode one. That’s not the case now.”
Blais volunteers with the cycling programs at Wood Elementary and EJ Dunn School and said there are kids that enter those programs who have never ridden a bicycle.
“If a child doesn’t have their first bike yet we’ll provide them with their first bike for free,” Thomas said. Jumping Slug is adding its inventory of Evo and Miele run bikes to the exchange program, and Thomas hopes families will bring in bicycles their children have outgrown to either exchange or donate.
The program will include kids’ bikes up to a 24-inch wheel. “We’ll help fit children on to an appropriate bike that fits, and then we’ll trade bikes,” Thomas explained.
A similar program is already established in Victoria, said Blais: Re-Buy-Cycle Shop offers families a children’s bike exchange up to 18-inch wheels. He estimates the program has been running successfully for about eight years.
Blais and Thomas are hoping their program at Jumping Slug will catch on too. “Our goal is to make kids’ bikes more accessible for families and children,” Thomas said.
A bike rodeo, exchange and barbecue is planned for March 5 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. There will be door prizes and bike accessories for kids. Blais is hoping someone from Project Garage 529 will be able to attend to register bicycles in the anti-theft program.
Jumping Slug is located at 4282 10th Avenue. The bike exchange and rodeo will take place in the parking lot behind Jumping Slug and the West Coast Combat Sports building.
susie.quinn@albernivalleynews.com
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