Terry Fox Elementary School collects local bikes for global use

Terry Fox Elementary School in Laval may have been closed Saturday morning, but it was a hub of activity.

Kids and adults alike wheeled used bikes onto the school playground for the ninth annual bike collect, which is a program that starts in suburban garages and backyards and finishes on roads in Latin America and Africa.

“Even if they don’t have wheels, we’ll take those too, and they’ll put them together and make them work in another country,” said organizer Lynn Sommer.

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The collection of bikes and parts heads to Cyclo Nord Sud, which re-purposes used bikes for disadvantaged communities in Latin America and Africa.

Organizers say the event allows kids the opportunity to use tools for the first time, as they break the bikes down so that they can be put into a container for transit overseas.

“A lot of them have never held a wrench. A lot of them don’t know what an Allen key is,” said volunteer Eddy Howor.

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For students like Isabella Dellapenta, taking apart a bike was a small thing compared with what it could deliver for people abroad: “The bikes will help them get to school and get to places. I think it’s really important they have a mode of transportation.”