Shelton Baker sits on the bike seat of his new, shiny BMX.
He pushes the golden, chrome handlebars back and forth as he rolls its wheels beneath him.
“I am so happy I signed up for this,” the teenager says in the foyer of the Squamish Adventure Centre on Friday. “This is my favourite Christmas present.”
Baker is one of 25 youth in Squamish wheeling home a bike. The special gifts have been handed out by the Share the Ride Foundation. The foundation, which is organized by the international biking website Pinkbike.com, aims to raise $40,000 this year to provide bicycles to children from families that would not be able to put one by the Christmas tree this year.
Since its inaugural year in 2013, the foundation has generated $88,279. The program has put smiles on the faces of children all around the world, including in Czech Republic, Hungary and India, says the foundation’s coordinator, Rose Oakhill.
“This is the first one in Squamish,” Oakhill notes.
Pinkbike.com moved its head office in Squamish last spring, but that doesn’t mean the giveaway will take place in its home base annually.
“We try and do different locations every year,” Oakhill says, adding the foundation wants to spread the excitement of owning a bicycle around to as many children as possible.
While Squamish is world-renowned for its extensive trail network, that doesn’t mean everyone who lives here has access to it, says Pinkbike.com founder Radek Burkat, whose family immigrated from Poland to Canada. As a child, Burkat says he remembers envying the children who owned bikes.
“What kid doesn’t want a bike?” he says. “It is your first transportation, your first way to get out and explore.”
The foundation relies on donations from its user base and support from some of the bike industry’s biggest companies, including Squamish-based OneUp components. Norco Bicycles, based out of Vancouver, also helped, as well as Giant, ABUS and Kali.
The event is always a lot of fun, Oakhill says, noting one day she would like to attend a giveaway at an orphanage in the Czech Republic. Burkat says he gets joy from imagining the excitement the children go through when they pick up their new bikes.
That buzz can be seen on Baker’s face, as he joins a group of friends also standing with their new bicycles – some with mountain bikes and others with BMXs. They chat about trails and trying out the skate park.
“I’ll give it a go,” Baker says of the bowl, as he proudly looks over his gleaming ride.
