Wanted - Dusty old bikes!

Wanted - Dusty old bikes!

Do you have a dusty old bicycle lurking in the garage, languishing in the garden shed or hiding in that eerie forgotten spot behind the house? Well, now you can give it a shiny new life for a great cause.

ChildFund New Zealand needs at least 100 unwanted bicycles for an exciting Christmas installation that will celebrate the humble bike as the perfect festive gift for children in the developing world.

The donated bikes will be dusted off and shined up to become the glittering decorations on an enormous Christmas ‘Tree of Bikes’ to be built on Auckland’s Queens Wharf with the generous support of Beca and Enterprize Steel.

The unique Christmas attraction will sit nearly two stories tall, helping raise awareness of the need for bicycles in developing countries like Sri Lanka, where they greatly improve children’s access to an education. Many children have to walk a long and tiring 5kms or more to school each day, but a bike can transform that journey into a much more manageable cycle ride to the classroom so they arrive safe, happy and ready to learn.

“This is your chance to help grow New Zealand’s first-ever Christmas Tree of Bikes,” explains Paul Brown, CEO for ChildFund New Zealand.

“Putting your old bike in lights will bring a lot of joy to the city and, if it is still in a usable or repairable condition, your bike will be handed on to a local community group here after Christmas. As part of the Tree, your bike will also be helping to break the cycle of poverty in the developing world by inspiring more Kiwis to purchase a Gifts that Grow bike for a child in need.”

Those already embracing the warming weather and preparing for the holidays can purchase bikes for children in developing countries through ChildFund’s Gifts that Grow catalogue at www.childfund.org.nz. Bikes purchased by New Zealanders via the catalogue are sourced locally in the country where the recipient child lives.

Local bike collections are scheduled for:

• Saturday 13 September, 10am-1pm, Selwyn College - Kohimarama (ASB Stadium carpark)

• Saturday 4 October, 10am-1pm, Newton Central School, Grey Lynn

• Saturday 18 October, 10am-2pm, Waitakere College, Henderson

• Saturday 1 November, 10am-2pm, Forrest Hill Presbyterian Church, Forrest Hill

Ends

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