Signs around Arvada Middle School periodically shout a message that resonates with all students.
“Free Bikes,” the sign reads, “Visit your counselor to see if you qualify.”
To a middle school student, a bike is not just a way to get around. It is an extension of one’s personality, a facilitator of freedom.
Bikes are important to students, Officer Chris Gomez said, which is one reason the Arvada police officer decided to help begin a program to provide underprivileged students a bike of their own.
For the last three years, the Kops ‘N Kids Bicycle Bonanza program has provided about 70 lost, recovered stolen or donated bicycles to students who are unable to afford one for themselves.
Eighth grade school counselor Marisa Marinac said she first approached Gomez with the idea for the program after seeing several students each day walking to school.
“There were these kids I would see walking miles and miles,” she said. “I would get to school and look up their address and say, ‘Holy Cow, they have quite a hike.’ I would ask them if they had a bike, and the answer was always, ‘No.’”
Marinac went to Gomez, the school resource officer at Arvada Middle School, to see if the bikes routinely auctioned off by police could be donated to students.
Before the program, when police would find or recover a bike, it would be stored until it was claimed or eventually sold at auction.
The money would then be placed into the city’s general fund.
After talking to Arvada city officials, Gomez secured the authority to take those bikes, fix them up, and donate them to children in the school.
“It has been fantastic to see these kids get something that really belongs to them,” Gomez said. “We have kids that are still riding their bikes three years after they got them, it is just great.”
In addition to helping students get to school, the program has also cut down the number of bike thefts at the school, Gomez said.
“We had a trend of bike theft at the school,” he said. “But I soon figured out that the kids were stealing the bikes because they didn’t have a bike of their own.”
Although the bikes are advertised to all students, certain qualifications must be met in order to receive a bike.
A student must see their counselor to request a bike. The bikes are given out if the student walks a mile or more to school, is on the free or reduced lunch program and has parental permission.
Due to recent budget cutbacks, Jefferson County Schools have slashed the number of buses each school is given to operate. Therefore, a student that lives less than 2.5 miles from the school cannot get school-provided transportation.
Gomez said more students are arriving late to school because of the amount of time it takes to walk.
“This helps some of the kids get to school on time, which will help their performance,” Gomez said.
There were 15 bikes handed out since the beginning of the 2004-2005 school year, and Gomez said he is planning on giving out 16 more bikes to students for Christmas.
There are 12 bikes on hand for distribution, but a total of 16 students on the waiting list. Gomez said he needs the community to donate a few more bikes to help this round of students.
Before they are handed out, the bikes get a custom fix from some of Arvada’s experts in bike repair.
Dave Porter, owner of the Arvada Bicycle Co., volunteers his expertise and time to repairing the bikes.
He also donates used, unclaimed bikes he encounters to the program as well.
“It helps relieve my storage of used bikes and makes good use of them,” Porter said of the program. “This helps kids stay out of trouble as well. It is a win-win situation. This is one way I can donate and give back to the community.”
Porter and his bike mechanics look over the bikes and make sure they are safe to ride before they are issued to students.
In addition to getting a free, certified safe bike, students also are provided with a helmet and a lock. The helmets, locks, parts and some new bikes in the program were purchased with a grant from the Colorado Regional Community Policing Institute.
That grant ran out this year, and the program relies on donations of cash and bikes to continue.
Gomez said he is looking for mid-sized to large donated bikes that would be appropriate for middle school students.