Saskatoon bike shop launches second annual Bikes for Africa | Globalnews.ca

The Bike Doctor store in Saskatoon has kicked off it’s second annual Bikes for Africa campaign, which aims to raise money to send bikes to rural communities in Africa.

We have lots of people who are very excited to support anything we do, but especially a program like this,” said co-owner of the shop, Reid Challis.

Challis said he’s excited to bring the campaign back for another year and is hoping to build on last year’s goal of sending 800 bikes overseas. A donor group is participating this year that is matching up to $40,000 in donations.

The idea, according to Challis, was spurred on by friends. The donated bikes are custom built to withstand long treks and designed to help in transporting necessities like food, water and medical supplies as well as students.

“These kids will wake up at three in the morning to get to school on time, whereas now they can actually sleep in a little bit, get to school, actually perform at school and learn what they need to learn, and that sounds life changing for them,” Challis said.

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Challis said bicycles can change people’s lives for the better and is hoping the city’s tight-knit cycling community can come together to bring the fundraiser across the finish line.

He said that a good bike can “empower you to move and the bike to me is amazing, so getting it into these communities where the impact is even greater than it can have to anybody here is amazing.”