Urgent need of donations to help give 300 bikes to Georgia children for Christmas

COWETA COUNTY, Ga. - An effort to provide bicycles for needy kids this Christmas finds itself in need of donations. The new bikes are distributed by Southside Toys for Tots and go to children in five different counties.

It’s the fourth annual Bike Build Off by the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office and a local business leader. Although the program has been successful in the past in donating hundreds of new bikes to children, they find themselves short of cash to pay for all those bikes this year.

The Coweta County Sheriff’s Office, along with other organizations, are going to build the bicycles on November 12. About 300 new bikes are going to needy kids in Coweta, Heard, Fayette, Merewether, and Talbot counties. They need money to pay for all those bikes.

It’s been a successful program over the years, but this year it is in need of funds to make it happen. Donations have fallen way short this year.

"We have 300 bikes right now. They are not paid for. We are hoping to pay for all of them so we can get them built on Sunday," said C.J D’Onofrio, owner of Southside Safe and Vault.

Last year, they built 250 bikes, buying them in spurts as the donations came in. Buying them early and in bulk again this year provides Toys for Tots a better opportunity to get them to the kids by Christmas. A challenge for organizers, but with a great community behind them, they are hopeful.

One of the reasons the program has been successful in the past is the participation of those organizations, like the sheriff’s office, that build all the bikes in a single day.

There is a Go Fund Me page to make it simple to donate. It’s called "The 4th Annual CCSO Bike Build Off."

Again, the goal this year is to build 300 new bikes. They are set to be assembled by the sheriff’s office and other organizations this Sunday. So, time is running out on their fundraising efforts.