Kids Repair Program (KRP), a Lansing-based organization, received a Micro-Grant fund to provide tires to their KRP van used by volunteers to pick up donated bikes. Thank you to Jeanne Wright of KRP for telling their story:

“In 2018 League of Michigan Bicyclists provided a grant to our youth nonprofit program, Kids Repair Program(KRP). KRP is located in the south side of Lansing and teaches a 20-hour bike repair program to ages 10 to 17. In the program, the youth learn repairs, maintenance, map reading, rules of the road, biking as a life-long healthy exercise, and nutrition. KRP was established by founder, Curt Eure, to help neighborhood youth who lived in the lower income neighborhoods of the city. In 1995 it was established as a 501(c)3 and was given a lower level space in the Impression 5 Museum in downtown. By 2005, the program was moved to a leased building on the Lansing Public School grounds on the south side of town where it resides now.

From the current location, classes are run year-round and house 10 sessions of Bike Camps in the summer when school is out. When the youth finish the training, they will have ‘learned and earned’ the refurbished donated bike to take home, a new helmet and new lock.

In many situations, KRP volunteers have to go out and pick up donated bikes. This is done with the Kids Repair Program van. KRP has a flatbed trailer that is used many times when the donation of bikes collected is more than what can be fit into the van. KRP also has a covered trailer stocked with tools and tune up supplies. During the summer of 2018, KRP volunteers performed 5 Tune-Ups for free to keep youth bikes rolling in the area. The LMB grant was used to provide much-needed tires to the KRP van and also restock supplies that were used over the summer for the free tune-up events out in the community. Bikes that are donated, typically all have to be refurbished with parts. Volunteers refurbish the bikes and then used for class, given away to community events, school events, and even given out at the Tune Up in the Parks.

The goal of the program is to keep kids on bikes, teach them how to keep their own bikes rolling, use them for transportation and create life-long cyclists.”

For more information on the Micro-Grant program and the other 2018 projects, visit: https://bit.ly/2PoAFOe

Categorised in: Micro-Grants