What is Every Child Deserves a Bike?
Since 2020, the Flyers Alumni have worked directly with Radnor, Pennsylvania-based charity Help Hope Live, to identify families with special needs children whose quality of life and individual mobility may benefit from using an adaptive bicycle. When a recipient is identified, the Flyers Alumni fully fund the construction of an adaptive bicycle fully customized to meet the child’s challenges.
Once constructed, the Flyers Alumni and Help Hope Live present the recipient in person with his or her new bicycle.
Why is the program
needed and how is it
beneficial?
Getting our first bike, and learning to ride it, is a rite of passage: The excitement of our first mode of independent transportation is something we share with family and friends. It’s a shared experience across many different cultures. In the case of children with special needs, however, a bicycle is too often something that’s “only for other kids.” Both physical barriers and socioeconomic obstacles can often make it impossible for these children to share in this cherished experience of youth. Adaptive bicycles are designed to meet the specialized needs of children with physical and/or neurological challenges and are cost-prohibitive for many families. These custom bicycles can cost roughly $5,000 to $7,500, and often, more.
6 YEARS | 46 BIKES
Created by the Alumni in 2020, the Every Child Deserves a Bike initiative will celebrates its Sixth Anniversary and 46th adaptive bicycle presentation in 2026.
The previous year, the Flyers Alumni Association and out ECDAB partner, Help Hope Live, where presented a “Faces of Philanthropy” award from the Philadelphia Business Journal.
How and when was the
ECDAB program created?
In 2020, as an extension of our annual “12 Days of Christmas” program, Flyers Alumni Association president Brad Marsh partnered with Help Hope Live to arrange an adaptive bicycle presentation during the holiday season.
Lucy’s joy and her family’s happiness inspired the Alumni to take the same concept and expand it from a one-time event into a full-fledged year-round program called “Every Child Deserves a Bike”. Since its creation, we’ve built and donated dozens of adaptive bicycles to Delaware Valley children.
On Dec. 24, 2020, the Flyers Alumni presented the first Flyers Alumni themed, adaptive bicycle to five-year-old Lucy Brooks of Springfield, PA.
READ LUCY’S STORY
Every Child Deserves a Bike
relies on the support of our sponsors and Flyers fans like you.
You can help by making a donation here.
Donate nowOther ways you can help us with this lifechanging initiative:
- Attend our public fundraising events throughout the year,
- Visit FlyersAlumni.net and our social media outlets to learn more about ECBDAB recipients’ stories.
- Spread the word with friends and relatives about ECDAB.
Your support is vital to the ongoing success and viability of “Every Child Deserves a Bike.” Year in and year out, the outpouring of love and support from Flyers fans has been tremendous. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts!