There’s a real-life Santa’s workshop in Eastern WA where bikes get built for those in need

Close to 1,000 volunteers from more than 50 organizations and schools came together Thursday for a common purpose — assembling over 1,600 bikes for Pacific Northwest kids and others in need.

Bikes for Tikes, a nonprofit based in West Richland, was founded 15 years ago. Since then, with the help of many dedicated — and handy — volunteers, it has helped give away some 22,000 bikes and helmets.

Randy Walli is president and founder of Bikes for Tikes. The organization got its start when Walli and other members of the UA Local 598 Plumbers and Steamfitters set out to do some community service during the holiday season.

That year, the group bought, assembled and donated about 40 bikes and helmets to Toys for Tots, the national program run by the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve.

The Bikes for Tikes operation, and its impact, has only grown since then.

The organization’s main event is its annual Bike Build Day, which cost the organization nearly $250,000 this year.

The main ballroom at the Three Rivers Convention Center in Kennewick was buzzing with the noise of volunteers working, power tools humming, cardboard boxes being opened and holiday music playing.

For hours, volunteers tinkered and built bikes in a range of sizes — ones with training wheels for children ages 2-4, up to mountain bikes for men and women.

Of the hundreds of volunteers at the build day, about half were Tri-Cities area high school students.

Emily Little and Sadie Stacy are pre-physical therapy students at the Tri-Tech Skills Center in Kennewick. Both are high school juniors. Little attends Chiawana High in Pasco and Stacy goes to Richland High School.

It was their first year volunteering for Bikes for Tikes — and their first time building a bike. The pair was surprised that the bikes didn’t come with assembly instructions.

They told the Herald that after struggling at first, a volunteer coordinator stopped by their table to help. After that, it was a smoother process and they said they want to come back to volunteer next year.

Demand for the bikes

Tina Clouston is a Bikes for Tikes board member and UA Local 598 member.

In March, she ordered more than 1,500 bikes from Griggs Ace Hardware.

Then the pressure was on for the organization to raise enough money to pay for them.

Bikes for Tikes raises money through sponsorships, donations and selling merchandise.

Every dollar donated goes directly toward purchasing bikes and helmets, and the operation is entirely volunteer-run.

Clouston told the Herald that there is always more demand for bikes than what the organization can supply.

The bikes are given away to people as far as Spokane, Seattle and parts of Oregon and Idaho, although most are given to families, children and adults in Eastern Washington.

Partner organizations will receive bikes after the build day and then it’s up to them to distribute them to people in need.

Bikes are donated to children in hospitals, students at local schools, teens, victims of domestic violence, people in shelters and veterans.

Clouston said that the goal is for the bikes to be distributed to a diverse range of people who otherwise would not be able to buy a bike.

The Benton County Sheriff’s Office typically receives up to 30 bikes to give away each year. The office will take the bikes to families they support during the holidays, children at Shop With a Cop events and other residents.

UA Local 598 business manager Nick Bumpaous told the Herald about a boy in Othello who was riding his bike and was struck by a car in a hit-and-run accident. He survived, but his bike was destroyed. The boy was taken to the hospital, where a new bike from Bikes for Tikes was delivered during his recovery.

Bumpaous shared a memory of getting his first bike as a kid and said that it is a formative moment for every child, especially those in need.

For more information about Bikes for Tikes, visit the organization’s website.