Building more than bikes

As part of the Bike Rebuilding School Holiday Program at Geraldton PCYC, children and young people worked together to restore donated and damaged bikes.

Rather than throwing the bikes away, they gave them a new lease of life with a bit of TLC, adding new tubes, fixing breaks and giving them a fresh coat of paint.

Once the bikes were roadworthy, young people were given the opportunity to reap the reward of their hard work by taking one of the bikes home. Instead, however, some chose to pay it forward and donate the bikes back to the community, to families in need.

As well as developing technical skills about bike mechanics, young people also learnt a sense of respect for property and a sense of connection to their local community.

Geraldton PCYC Centre Manager, Talya Quinn said, “The success of this program is down to the generosity of our volunteer Ron and the Geraldton Sporting Aboriginal Corporation, who helped to run the program during the school holidays and to the WA Police and Geraldton community for donating bikes for us to rebuild."