South Buffalo Elementary gym teacher raising money for youth bicycles for classes

A physical education teacher is raising $5,000 to buy bikes and helmets for a proposed bicycling class for kindergarten and first grade students at South Buffalo Elementary School in the Freeport Area School District.

The money will pay for a fleet of 24 Strider balance bikes, helmets, pedal conversion kits, a Strider 20 bike for teacher instruction and curriculum.

Earlier, physical education teacher John Lowry took an informal poll with his kindergarten and first grade students at South Buffalo Elementary School. He found the majority of students didn’t know how to balance on a bike or had never ridden one.

He saw a need to include a national bike riding program into his curriculum.

“For physical education, we’re moving on lifelong activities and not just traditional team sports,” Lowry said.

Launched in March 2018, the All Kids Bike program is used in more than 550 schools in 50 states, impacting 77,000 students in 2021 and teaching 380,000 students how to ride, said Lauren Tadlock, a project manager with the program.

The group responded to a need to get more kids on bikes. There has been a 35% decline in children riding bikes for recreation in the past decade, according to the Safe Routes to School organization.

Conversely, kids spend an average of more than seven hours per day on screen time, according to the CDC, Tadlock said.

The All Kids Bike program provides the bikes along with a five-year service agreement. The students do not get to take or own the bikes. Lowry expects the bikes to get low usage and to last at least as long as the service agreement.

He hopes to have the South Buffalo Elementary bike class in place for physical education classes next school year.

But first, he must raise the money. Lowry recently launched an online campaign, through the All Kids Bike program, and raised about $800 through the first week of May. He said he also plans to approach local businesses.

To donate, visit the All Kids Bike program for South Buffalo Elementary at allkidsbike.org/give.