The Kimley-Horn Foundation – Spreading Happiness: It’s Like Riding a Bike

Can you remember your first bike? The terror and excitement of removing the training wheels and riding (maybe unsuccessfully) down the street? Those two—or three—wheels provide children with a new sense of freedom and independence. Many at-risk and foster children don’t get to experience the excitement of receiving their first bike; but through Shelby Hughes’s (Kimley-Horn Tampa) volunteer work at onbikes, she is making it happen.

onbikes provides disadvantaged children with their first bike during the holiday season. What began as a group of friends who organized a community bike ride fundraiser has grown to partnerships with local bike shops and volunteers to assemble hundreds of bicycles each year for at-risk kids in the community.

Kimley-Horn Foundation: Spreading Happiness: It’s Like Riding a Bike

Shelby has been largely involved in the nonprofit’s fundraising efforts since 2014, helping organize bike-ride and bike-build events around the Tampa area. Her volunteer efforts have opened the door for grant assistance from the Kimley-Horn Foundation, allowing onbikes to purchase and build more bikes for more kids in the community.

The onbikes philosophy, “giving is better than receiving,” strikes a chord with our Core Values here at Kimley-Horn—“It’s everything about sharing and caring,” says Shelby. Over 2,000 children have received bikes since 2011.