with giving bikes to a few kids whose names were on a Salvation Army angel tree for Christmas.

I worked for the city of Burbank at the time, and there was an angel tree put up by the Salvation Army in our lobby, and all the employees were encouraged to get gift requests from the less fortunate kids.

Near Christmas, I noticed that all the big-ticket items like bikes were still hanging on the tree, and that's when I got the idea to perhaps get some used bikes and fix them up and donate them to the kids.

If you look at it

cumulatively over the years since we've started, we've taken in over 3,500 bikes, and many of those we've kept out of the landfill by restoring them and putting them back in service.

The bikes have stories behind them.

They have history.

And one of the more moving stories was an older couple who had a bike that their son had during the 1994 earthquake.