From left, Ridgefield High School students Luke Englert, Cole Montanaro, Michael Dowd, Chase Romeo, Kyle Colsey and Charlie Murphy brought their bicycles over to Ridgefield Bicycle Company, where bicycles will collected for the Bicycle Donation Drive on Sept. 3 and 4.
Chrissy Colsey /RIDGEFIELD - Inspired by their love of cycling, a group of Ridgefield High School juniors decided to reach out to an area bicycle shop to organize a donation drive Labor Day weekend, for families in need.
The Ridgefield High School team includes Ryan Carnicelli, Kyle Colsey, Michael Dowd, Luke Englert, Charlie Murphy, Cole Montanaro, and Chase Romeo - all of whom ride bikes and have been friends with one another since third grade.
“We’d always go on bike rides through the town and go get food when we were kids,” Ryan said. “I always love going for a bike ride, even at night - it’s a great form of transportation and fun to ride them.”
As they grew older, Kyle said the six of them would get together to go mountain biking.
By organizing the donation drive, he said they were looking to do something good that involved bikes, and to give others the same opportunities they’ve had with their bikes.
“We live in a very fortunate town and we wanted to give back to people that aren’t as fortunate,” Ryan said. “Bikes are a great form of transportation - they’re very useful and safe most of the time, and kids have a lot of fun with them. It’s just good to go with your friends and have a bike ride.”
Michael contacted Northeast Community Cycles, based in Stamford, about their interest in organizing a bicycle donation drive.
Northeast Community Cycles is a ten-year-old nonprofit, community initiative in Stamford “dedicated to providing safe, refurbished bicycles, free of charge, to underprivileged children and adults in Fairfield County, CT,” according to its website.
Phyllis Lodato-Suppa, wife of Northeast Community Cycles President Tony Suppa and secretary of the nonprofit, said charities started reaching out to them, and as they began reaching out to more charities, word spread about the initiative.
To date, Lodato-Suppa said the nonprofit has refurbished and given away 7,000 bicycles to those in need as well as to various charity organizations, homeless shelters, rehabilitation centers and other organizations.
“I think it’s wonderful that students at this age think more about their community and getting involved and giving back,” Lodato-Suppa said.
From Sept. 3 to Sept. 4, Ridgefield Bicycle Company, 88 Danbury Road, will accept bikes of all sizes and conditions between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Northeast Community Cycles will then refurbish the donated bikes and distribute them to Fairfield County families.
Expecting to receive between 60 and 80 bicycles from the drive, Lodato-Suppa said they’ll likely distribute bicycles on a separate date — distributing 20 to 30 at a time.
Reminiscing on his own experiences with cycling, Suppa said, “Personally, I remember the thrill of riding a bicycle, the freedom I felt when riding.”
Providing safe, refurbished bicycles, Suppa said, is the right thing to do to help people out. Beyond the fun they offer riders, Suppa said the bicycles can be used to help people in rehabilitation or provide them with basic transportation to school or work.
“It’s amazing that we can share something in our friend group that we do all the time,” Kyle said. “To give others the opportunity to be able to share what we have — it’s great.”