COLORADO SPRINGS, CO— Kids on Bikes, a Colorado Springs-based nonprofit with a mission to provide bikes to children through programs that inspire a healthy lifestyle, independence, and achievement will donate over 60 bikes, locks, and helmets to fifth-grade students at Sand Creek Elementary today. The bike giveaway is one of two giveaway ceremonies; over 70 students in total will receive bikes, helmets and locks from the organization. The second ceremony will be conducted at Atlas Prep on May 24.
The bike giveaways are the culmination of Kids on Bikes’ annual ABCs Program: Students are rewarded with bicycles for achieving academic, behavioral, and character-based goals set at the beginning of the school year. With the assistance of their teachers and Kids on Bikes, the students track their progress toward their goals throughout the year.
The ABCs Program started at Sand Creek Elementary in 2006, and in four years will have distributed over 300 bicycles. The bikes, locks, and helmets are provided by Kids on Bikes through generous financial and in-kind donations by individuals, local merchants and organizations, and private Foundations. This year, Kids on Bikes is excited to announce a partnership with Giant Bicycles and local bike shops Old Town, Ted’s Bicycles, and Colorado Cyclist to help provide bikes at a reduced cost.
Kids on Bikes was founded by Paige Carmichael of Carmichael Training Systems. Her goal to promote a healthy lifestyle for children and to give them the freedom and confidence gained by earning a bike inspired her to build a board of dedicated volunteers that seek to improve children’s lives through two powerful programs, including the ABCs Program, Kids on Bikes’ signature project.
The ABCs program works with children in the fifth grade. By reaching children before they enter middle school, the ABCs Program gives them the opportunity to take ownership of their education by having a specific and attainable goal to encourage them.
At the beginning of the year each student meets with their teacher to build a points system individually structured to their areas of strength and goals for improvement. During the semester their progress is carefully monitored and the student takes responsibility for what is required to achieve his or her goals. At the end of the year each of the students who succeed in meeting these goals receives a brand new bike, helmet, and lock fitted to them during a school assembly with their families and teachers attending in acknowledgment of their achievement.
Tacy Killingsworth, Sand Creek Elementary principal, summarized the impact the ABCs Program has had on her students, “The kids really benefit from hearing that they can achieve, and that success is not limited to other kids. It is so important for them to know what it is like to meet a goal, to learn how to measure their progress, and to find know how to find support when pursuing a goal. You see a real change in the kids and in their classroom when they all share a common pursuit. It builds a real sense of community.”
Brianna, a fifth grade student at Sand Creek Elementary, highlighted one of the many life lessons she gained from the program, “I learned that you can do anything if you put your mind to it. I used to look and say I couldn’t do that. Now I can remind myself that you can do anything. I will never give up because one day I knew I would reach my goal and earn a cool new bike.”
