Airmen to deliver bikes to Afghan children

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Alicia Goldberger
  • 176th Wing Public Affairs
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AFNS) --  With the assistance from the Alaska Air National Guard and Anchorage volunteers, more than 20 disadvantaged children in Afghanistan will get new bikes this month.

The bicycles, together with parts and tools, were donated by the Anchorage Community YMCA, The Bicycle Shop, Paramount Cycles, Chain Reactions, and REI, Inc. They were then refurbished by people at Off the Chain, a non-profit, all-volunteer bicycle collective in Anchorage.

"I think it's great," said Staff Sgt. Henry Crankshaw, an Off the Chain volunteer and a member of nearby Elmendorf Air Force Base's 3rd Operations Support Squadron. "During this time of year, not many people come in for kids' bikes. This is a great opportunity to get our surplus of kids' bikes out the door to people who will actually enjoy them immensely."

Funded purely through donations and grants, Off the Chain volunteers offer bicycle education and maintenance to the community of Anchorage. 

A group of Off the Chain volunteers came up with the idea of giving bicycles to underprivileged Afghan children. The big obstacle was getting them there. Organizers approached Lt. Col. David Glick, a pilot with the Alaska Air National Guard's 144th Airlift Squadron. The squadron routinely flies personnel, equipment and supplies into the remote, war-torn country.

Chris Himes, a long time Off the Chain volunteer, said "I can't imagine any other way it could have happened. It's a perfect confluence of interests and abilities, the Air Guard being on the way anyway, and being able to distribute the bikes, which we would never be able to."

A group of Air Guard members arrived at Off the Chain with a flatbed truck Dec.5 to pick up the bikes. On Dec. 8, Air National Guard members at Kulis Air National Guard Base loaded them onto a C-130 Hercules for the flight to Afghanistan. The bikes will be distributed from Bagram Airfield to local Afghan children near the base.