Brody Hicks, a sophomore at Perry High School, is on a roll with a nonprofit he created this summer called Upcycle Cycles.
Hicks takes bicycles scrapped at the Lake County Solid Waste Landfill, refurbishes them and is donating them to people in need- particularly children.
Hicks appeared on Good Morning Cleveland- Sunday. He said biking has long been a passion. He recently rode a 600-mile trip from Niagara Falls to New York City with his cousin, brother and grandfather.
“And I found that I really love biking,” Hicks said.
That led to him and his brother starting a bike loan program called Pirates Pedal in the fall of 2020 at Perry High School.
“One of the teachers knew that I ran this and saw a big pile of bikes at our landfill,” Hicks said. “She went to me to see if I could do something with them.”
Hicks said so far, he’s been able to fix up bicycles without spending a dime.
“What I mainly focus on is just getting the bikes functional and ready to go… making sure the brakes are good, the derailleur, (and) tires are filled,” Hicks said. “And so far, I've used no funds to fix them. I've done it totally with what I have scrapping from other bikes. But I hope to get some parts eventually.”
He set up a GoFundMe campaign to assist with buying parts and accessories.
“I’m trying to raise $500 to give out helmets with my bikes- as well to increase safety.”
Hicks said he recently made his first donation of 8 bicycles to Heritage Middle School in Painesville where they’ll be distributed to students.
“My goal is to hand out 50 bikes by the end of this school year and increase that number every year."
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