Looking for some gift ideas for that cyclist pal in your life? Here are a few philanthropic ideas from your favorite comrades.
For the friend that has everything, consider making a donation in their name to one of Chicago’s many non-profit organizations working to improve cycling in our city. The first three organizations also accept bike donations, so if you have a disused bike that’s taking up space, consider giving a bike in their name as well.
Blackstone Bicycle Works
6100 South Blackstone Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637
(773) 241-5458
Donate to Blackstone through its parent non-profit The Experimental Station (be sure and specify Blackstone as your donation’s recipient).
Blackstone Bicycle Works is a youth education program of the Experimental Station. In the context of a full-service bike shop dedicated to promoting ecological practices and empowering youth, Blackstone teaches mechanical skills, job skills, and business literacy to boys and girls from the underserved Woodlawn neighborhood and Chicago’s broader south side.
The Recyclery Collective
Sales are held on Saturday mornings from 10am until noon.
7628 N Paulina Street
Chicago, IL 60626
(773) 262-5900
Get your friend a cash donation in their name, or buy them a gift certificate for a series of classes.
The Recyclery Collective seeks to build community through the restoration of donated and discarded bicycles. We share resources and knowledge in order to support an affordable, independent, and sustainable mode of transportation. In this spirit of education and mutual aid, we encourage discussion about how our transportation choices affect the health of our communities and our environment.
West Town Bikes
2459 W Division Street
Chicago, IL 60622
(773) 772-4870
The over-arching goals of West Town Bikes are to promote bicycling in the city of Chicago, to educate youth with a focus on under-served populations, and to foster and serve Chicago’s growing bicycling community. While maintaining headquarters and a workspace in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood, WTB is a city-wide service provider for youth programs in the city of Chicago.
Bikes N’ Roses
Bikes N’ Roses is a youth-led non-profit organization in Albany Park that is working to create a happier, healthier community by promoting the use of bicycles instead of cars. We believe biking is good for your health, your wallet, the environment, and that biking can be a primary means of transportation. Bikes and Roses is dedicated to teaching people how biking can benefit them and the whole community of Albany Park.
Active Transportation Alliance
We must give thanks to the Active Transportation Alliance for all the work they’ve done to improve cycling in Chicago and the surrounding area. Why not help them continue their good work with a donation in a friend’s name?
The mission of Active Transportation Alliance is to make bicycling, walking and public transit so safe, convenient and fun that we will achieve a significant shift from environmentally harmful, sedentary travel to clean, active travel. We advocate for transportation that encourages and promotes safety, physical activity, health, recreation, social interaction, equity, environmental stewardship and resource conservation.
