MADISON, Ohio — A high school student in Perry is turning his love of bikes into a way to give back to his community while reducing waste in landfills.
At 15-years-old, Brody Hicks is already an avid biker. Two years ago, he and family members took a self-supported bike trip across the state of New York, spanning from Niagara Falls to New York City.
It’s not surprising, then, that he would take his passion for bicycles and share it with others, turning his hobby into a force for good. In 2020, he and his brother started "Pirates Pedal," a bicycle loan program at Perry Local Schools which allowed students to borrow bikes, with Hicks helping maintain, repair, and distribute the rides to his peers.
Now, he’s taken that a step further with an initiative he’s coined as "Upcycle Cycles," in which he takes bikes from the local landfill, refurbishes them, and donates them to kids who wouldn’t otherwise have their own bikes.
“I found that my passion for biking could be spread around the community if I did this, and I think it would really help others,” Hicks said.
Hicks initially got the idea from his advisor, career exploration specialist Rita Soeder at Perry Local Schools. Soeder said she was at an event for Leadership Lake County when she received a tour of the Lake County Solid Waste Facility, and saw a pile of discarded bicycles.
Soeder said in that moment, she thought of Hicks and his work with the bicycle loan program, wondering if he could do anything with these bikes.
“He picked up the bikes. He figured out what they needed, sorted them by priority, what could be repaired quickly and how it could be repaired, and then communicated with the Painesville school system to see if he could get those bikes in the hands of students in Painesville City,” Soeder said. “And he was successful.”
Hicks began collecting the bikes from the landfill in February, and fixed his first bike in July. Over summer, he was able to repair and donate eight bikes to students in Painesville, with the goal of donating 50 bikes over the course of the school year.
While Hicks enjoyed riding bikes, he had a lot to learn about fixing them. With help from family members with experience making repairs, plus some guidance from the internet, he was well on his way.
“You're capable of fixing the bike, it's not that hard,” Hicks said. “You can do more than you think.”
He’s also hoping that other students will follow in his footsteps, especially when he eventually leaves for college.
“I hope later on when I'm out of high school to maybe pass it on to somebody else or the school or something, because I'm not going to be here all the time,” he said of keeping Upcycle Cycles going.
While running Upcycle Cycles, Hicks has also kept the Pirates Pedal program going, albeit in a smaller capacity.
“It says a lot about Brody and his family,” Soeder said. “We have so many students in Perry who are interested in connecting with our community, I think we’re all really proud of Perry.”
From rider, to repairman, Hicks is using his love of biking to help fellow students in Northeast Ohio have a bike to call their own.
“I hope they feel like they can do anything, go anywhere, spend time with their friends and not have to rely on other people for transportation,” Hicks said. “Maybe it takes me 30 minutes to fix a bike, but it can make a lifetime of memories for somebody else.”
Hicks has also created a GoFundMe to buy parts, more gently used bikes, and helmets to provide riders.
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