BOISE, Idaho — A bike for the holidays is something many kids across the Treasure Valley are wishing for but it's a wish not every family can afford, which is why the Boise Bicycle Project holds its 13th annual Holiday Kids Bike Giveaway.
“This is awesome because kids who ordinarily wouldn’t have the opportunity to have a new bike, especially during the holiday season, can come down and get a bike, but it's bigger than that it's about the community,” Boise Police Deputy Chief Ron Winegar said.
Seven hundred kids rode away with new bikes on Saturday.
“I still remember our first one we had 63 kids, most of them were from our refugee community and it's grown and grown and grown every year,” said Boise Bicycle Project Founder Jimmy Hallyburton.
Each of the kids who received a bike drew up their dream bike and then the Boise Bicycle Project volunteers fixed up the bike to match the drawings.
“One of the things that you notice when you see each one of these kids when they start to ride their bike for the first time their eyes really light up and you can tell they're looking into something far into the distance, they're not really looking at what’s in front of them, they're looking at all of the places they're going to be able to go now,” Hallyburton said.
A community effort making kids dreams come true, one bike at a time.
“One of the best parts of today is that you get to meet people from all around the world, all walks of life coming together trying to make sure they are connected to the community through bicycle transportation,” Hallyburton said.
All of the bikes were donated and then fixed up by volunteers.