Healthy Youth Coalition launching free bicycle program

The North County Healthy Youth Coalition is starting a program to encourage kids to ride bicycles and get free bikes to kids who need them. Its Blue Beat Bike program received a donation of 54 “found” bikes from the Lynden police department. It has big plans for the bikes, but first it needs help repairing them.

“The Healthy Youth Coalition goal is to increase protective factors for youth – factors that protect from suicide and depression – and exercise is such a healthy outlet for coping with depression and decreasing stress,” said Erika Creydt, coalition co-founder and clinical director at TouchStone Health Clinic. “One of the things we could sure use help with is making sure that all those bikes are safe.”

The Healthy Youth Coalition has a work party planned for 2 p.m., on Sunday, April 14 at the H Street Plaza in Blaine.

Once those bikes are repaired, the coalition plans to give them to kids in need. The coalition will have some requirements for bike recipients, including taking a maintenance and bike safety course, signing a pledge to complete schoolwork, abstain from drugs and commit to riding regularly.

To begin the process of giving away the bikes, the Healthy Youth Coalition is hosting a bike rally at the Blaine High School football field parking lot at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, May 1, said Jesse Creydt, Healthy Youth Coalition co-founder.

In the future, the Blue Beat Bike program will host Wednesday afternoon rides led by community members.

Both former police chiefs Allen Schubert and Michael Knapp endorsed the program. The Healthy Youth Coalition also reached out to the Hub Community Bike Shop, a Bellingham-based nonprofit, for help repairing bikes and the Blaine-Birch Bay Park and Recreation Department 2 for funding and both organizations are interested in the program.

The Lynden police department accumulated the bicycles over the past two years, said Holly Vega, Lynden police communications specialist. Many of the bikes were found on the side of the road or abandoned on private property. The police department checks the bikes’ serial numbers to see if they have been reported stolen, and then holds them for at least 90 days for their owners to claim.

The Lynden police department’s last batch of found bikes went to the state Department of Corrections; inmates at the Monroe Correctional Complex repaired the bicycles and donated them to the Boys and Girls Club and other nonprofits, Vega said. The police department will likely have more bikes to donate in the future, she said.

To learn more about the Healthy Youth Coalition or future bicycle repair parties, visit the Healthy Youth Coalition’s Facebook page.