Where to Donate

Your Old  Bicycle

Most of us have more than one bicycle in the storage closet or garage. Sometimes it's a bicycle we haven't  ridden  in years. What's the point of keeping it?

Here's a list of nonprofit bicycle shops and charities that are looking for used bicycles. Some will be spruced up and used in your community, while others will be shipped to developing nations.

Boston area

One of the first I heard about was Bikes Not Bombs. Maybe it's the catchy name. The founders say that the group promotes bicycle technology as a concrete alternative to war and environmental destruction. Bikes go to low income areas of Boston as well as nations in the southern hemisphere. Headquarters at 284 Amory St., Jamaica Plain, Mass.; bike shop at 18 Bartlett Square, Jamaica Plain.

Watch the video to learn about its other programs, such as the earn-a-bike, girls-in-action and bicycle mechanic vocational programs geared mainly toward local youths.

Chicago

Working Bikes Cooperative: 2434 S. Western Avenue, Chicago, 60608. Their extensive network includes drop-off locations all around the Chicago suburbs, as well as several cities in Iowa and Wisconsin.

Denver

Bicycles for Humanity: Collects used bicycles, tunes them up, and ships them to Namibia in a shipping container. Meanwhile, members of the local community in Namibia are trained as bicycle mechanics, and use the shipping container as a bike shop. The non-profit also seeks monetary donations to pay for shipping. Where to send donations and bicycles.

New Jersey

Pedals for Progress: Donates bicycles to developing nations; also helps set up bike repair shops. Based in High Bridge, NJ, but collects through partners throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. The group has shipped more than 100,000 bicycles, more than 6,000 in 2009 alone.

Phoenix

Pedal Power Foundation: Donates new bicycles to children in need in the Phoenix area. Usually needs help assembling the bikes before the holidays.

Rochester, NY

R Community Bikes: Collects and repairs used bikes for free distribution to children and adults in need. The bikes are used for transportation to work, school, rehabilitation and recreation. Warehouse at 226 Hudson Ave., Rochester. Check website for hours.

Seattle

Bike Works: 3709 S. Ferdinand, Seattle, 98118. Old bicycles go to the "Earn a Bike" program in which youths learn how to repair and care for a bicycle. Recycled bicycles also go to Ghana.

Sammamish WA

ARAS Bicycle Project: An annual used-bicycle collection that benefits the Village Bicycle Project, which delivers the bikes to Ghana. Collection, repair and packing occurs in one day.

Metro Washington DC

Bikes for the World: 3108 17th St. North, Arlington, Virginia, 22201. Sponsored by the Washington Area Bicycle Association, the nonprofit's central mission is to collect unwanted bicycles and related material in the United States and deliver it at low cost to community development programs assisting the poor in developing countries or in the Washington DC metropolitan area.

Bicycles for Humanity

Collects bicycles through multiple chapters in Canada, the US and Australia for delivery to developing nations. Created the Bicycle Empowerment Center, which is essentially a container box filled with 300 to 400 bicycles, as well as tools and spare parts. Locally based bicycle mechanics are trained as part of the delivery.

Monetary donations:

All these charities can use cash, as it costs money to ship bicycles overseas. In fact, Pedals for Progress requires a $10 to $35 donation with every donated bicycle.

Also, World Bicycle Relief, sponsored by SRAM and Trek, accepts donations to buy rugged, new bicycles for shipment overseas. A $134 donation buys one bike.