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Power Bike Drive Saturday November 11 at Mikes Bike Shop

Because "every kid should have at bike!" is what 8-year-old Nicole Basil thought in 2008 when she decided to create a bicycle donation program for kids who did not have a bike. Basil, now a senior at New Trier High School, organized that first drive and held it at her elementary school. Fifty bicycles were collected the initial year and with the help of the Jane Addams Hull House in Chicago, Basil was connected to the Chicago Public School system to be a recipient of the donated bikes. CPS puts an emphasis on achieving Honor Roll for their students and rewarding those children with a bike seemed to be the perfect fit.

Over the years the number of donation locations has grown and over 2,400 bicycles have been donated. In 2011, Cesar Chavez Multicultural Academic Center in Chicago expressed interest in working with Pedal Power to receive the bikes. Over the past six years, the added excitement of receiving a bike has proven to be a great incentive for the students to work hard at achieving honor roll status. For many of these kids, the Pedal Power bike is the first one they have ever owned.

With Basil going away to college in 2018, she had been keeping her eye out for someone to continue the annual drive. In 2016 she found just the right person in Meg Erickson. "Meg is a 4th grader who I babysit for and she was interested in how she could help with Pedal Power. She was very enthusiastic and is a responsible young lady, so her family and I decided that she would be my understudy for the next two years. I'm going to help her and show her how to do everything. It was perfect timing!"

Donated bicycles that are not in immediate working condition are delivered to Northside Learning Center in Chicago where the students in their bicycle repair program will have the opportunity to work on them. Northside Learning Center is a CPS high school that serves students with cognitive challenges.

Volunteers will be available to accept your donations at 10 locations this year. Bring your unwanted, gently used, working bikes from 9am until noon on November 11 to any of the following locations:

PALATINE - Mikes Bike Shop, 155 N. Northwest Hwy

WILMETTE - McKenzie Elementary School, 649 Prairie Ave

NORTHBROOK - George Garner Cyclery, 1111 Waukegan Rd

GLENVIEW - Glenview Cycle, 1011 Harlem Ave

LAKE FOREST - Kiddles Sports, 258 Market Square

EVANSTON - Home Depot, 2201 Oakton St

WINNETKA - Green Bay Cycles, 999 Green Bay Rd

EVANSTON/SKOKIE - St. Joan of Arc, 9248 Lawndale Ave

LIBERTYVILLE - George Garner Cyclery, 740 N. Milwaukee Ave

ELMHURST - Stemple's Cycles, 494 Spring Rd

For more information, visit www.gopedalpower.com

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