The District Magazine Vol. 1 Issue 4, Winter 2016 | Page 28

onbikes
G I V I N G M AT T E R S

onbikes, a Tampa-based non-profit
organization whose mission is to
provide at-risk and foster children
their first bicycles during the holiday
season. Each year usually the first
Sunday of December they turn
Amalie Arena into the equivalent of
“Santa’s Bike Shop” as their annual
Bike Build.

onbikes was formed in 2011 when a group of friends
organized a community bike ride during the winter
holiday season to raise funds so at-risk kids could
receive their very first bike. It was an incredible success,
and it was then that onbikes was born. The onbikes
team is simply doing their part in restoring the selfconfidence, health, and overall well-being of at-risk kids
in our community.
In the last two years, they have doubled in size. The size
of their event has doubled, the funds raised to provide
bikes has doubled, and the number of bikes donated
to at-risk kids in the Tampa Bay area has doubled many
times over.
This year hundreds of volunteers assembled nearly 800
bikes, the largest build day in the organization’s history.
Bike Build has become a festive day of service; bike

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