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Kelowna  

Free bikes for kids

The Kelowna chapter of Bicycles for Humanity is giving away bikes for kids today.

Founded in Kelowna 10 years ago, Bicycles for Humanity is a charity with 50 chapters across the world.

Their goal is to empower people in developing countries by giving them the gift of transportation. A bicycle greatly increases the mobility of an individual or family and can mean the difference between finding food, water or work. 

But today is about giving back to families in Kelowna.

"People drop off bikes they don't want, adult bikes and children's bikes, but it costs too much money to send children's bikes so we only send adult bikes which are the most usable," said Keith Germaine, a volunteer with B4H. "Sometimes a bike is a family car, so a kid's bike doesn't make sense."

The Kelowna chapter focuses on sending bikes to Ghana as Germaine and his wife have established connections there with a former Peace Corps officer. It costs about $12,000 to send a container which can hold between 450 and 480 adult bikes. 

To fit as many bikes as possible, the front wheel is removed. 

They have already sent one container in the spring and they've received so many bikes, they need to send another. 

All the work is done by volunteers and paid for by donations. 

"We've never fallen short (on funds). People are generous, they donate cars," Germaine said. "Just this last year, we got two cars each worth $3,500 and sold them for $3,500 each."

The group is always looking for donations of cash or items for auction, such as cars, to raise funds. All funds go toward transporting the bikes from Kelowna to Africa. 

They will be at the St Charles Garnier Church at 3645 Benvoulin Road until 12 p.m. Saturday. 



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