Located in Madison, the non-profit used bicycle store DreamBikes employs members of Dane County’s Boys and Girls Club and gives them an opportunity to serve. Aside from providing refurbished bicycles at a low cost to the community, the DreamBikes staff is receiving a unique and life-changing opportunity for education and growth.

Leader: Roger Bird

Position: Director of concept stores and retail services at Trek Bicycle Company and co-founder of DreamBikes

Website: www.dream-bikes.org

What was the motivation behind the creation of DreamBikes?

We wanted to get people using bikes for fitness, using bikes for transportation. Kids using bikes instead of playing video games and watching TV. We also wanted to bring bikes to communities that normally couldn’t really afford them.

There’s a couple of other things too and one is helping these kids. We wanted to give them job experience and an opportunity.

We basically really wanted to do something great and change the world. And this is what we came up with.

What is DreamBikes’ purpose and mission?

It’s a full non-profit that stands alone; it’s not under the umbrella of Trek. It kind of combines the bicycle and the kids. There are all these problems in the world right now, whether it’s a global crisis, a transportation crisis or a health crisis. Really, the bicycle can be a simple solution to those three things. So not only does it help bring more bikes into Dane County, but you are putting more bikes into people’s hands who can really use them.

In what ways can the community get involved with your initiatives?

They can get involved by participating in our giving back campaign. They can come into the Trek stores or DreamBikes and drop off a used bike. We’re going to refurbish that bike and fix it up, make sure it’s safe, and then we’re going to give those bikes away to the kids at the Boys and Girls Club. All these kids, at Christmas, can get a bike under the tree, whereas their parents couldn’t afford one. We give away a couple of hundred bikes a year.

So far, what has been your favorite moment or memory involving DreamBikes?

One of the highlights for me was a Boys and Girls Club luncheon. They asked two of the employees of DreamBikes to get up and give their testimonials of what it has been like working there. There was one girl named Jessica. There are 500 people dressed up in business attire, sitting in the gymnasium at the Boys and Girls Club looking up at this girl Jessica. And she was an absolute professional … you could just kind of feel the joy and the pride that everybody felt when she got up there and gave her story.

Are there any plans to expand DreamBikes?

We are looking to open in Milwaukee right around March 1. Also, we have already been to Albany, N.Y., to check that out. We are working with the mayor’s office in Albany. It looks like they might even go so far as to donate a building for DreamBikes to use rent-free.

I don’t think there is any reason why we can’t say that there is going to be 50 DreamBikes within 10 years all across the country.