FCLSRT pulled together a group of partners who together made it possible to donate a fleet of bicycles to the Merrimack Valley School District in September of 2024. Together with previous donations of bikes to the Kearsarge Regional School District in June 2023 and Concord School District in April 2024 the total number of elementary schools teaching their kindergarten and first grade students to ride is now at 13. Over 1100 students annually are benefitting from instruction on these bikes. (KRES Bradford, KRES New London, KRES Sutton Central, Simonds Elementary Warner, Beaver Meadow Concord, Christa McAuliffe Concord, Abbot Downing Concord, Millbrook Concord, Penacook Elementary, Boscawen Elementary, Webster Elementary, Salisbury Elementary and Loudon Elementary)

We received significant support from GE Aerospace Foundation and GE Aerospace employees who helped assemble the bikes on the front lawn of Cafe One East. Additional support came from the Central New Hampshire Bicycle Coalition, Granite State Wheelers Bicycle Club, S&W Sports, and the Brain Injury Association of New Hampshire.

We undertook this initiative to help ensure all children in these towns had the opportunity to learn how to ride a bike from a young age. Starting with balance bikes, which are bikes without pedals, participants learn how to balance on two wheels. Pedals are then added and the kids become bike riders.

We hope that families will support their new riders by giving them access to a bike and finding safe places to ride. We think the sections of the Concord-Lake Sunapee Rail Trail and the other regional rail trails would be excellent options.

Feedback from the PE teachers, classroom teachers and administrators has been incredibly positive. The students are gaining so much confidence and this has become the most popular PE unit in the schools.