COCOA, Florida — In 2006, the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office implemented a program using inmates to refurbish abandoned and unclaimed bicycles and give them to underprivileged children for Christmas, birthdays and other holidays throughout the year. The program expanded to include homeless veterans who needed bikes as their primary source of transportation.
This year, the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office held its 7th annual Christmas bike giveaway at the Sheriff’s Inmate Work Farm in Cocoa, Floirda and provided 340 bicycles to the Brevard County Sharing Centers, the Brevard Achievement Center and National Homeless Veterans Support. The majority of bicycles will be provided to parents who would not be able to afford one for their children this holiday season.
In 2012, more than a thousand bikes were donated to various Brevard County charities as a result of this program. What made 2012 so special is that our friends from Wal-Mart in Titusville, Cocoa, Merritt Island and Melbourne generously donated more than 300 bicycles to the program to make it our best year ever. Waste Management has also partnered with the Sheriff’s Office and saves discarded bicycles that would otherwise be taken to the county landfill and gives them to the Sheriff’s Office to be refurbished.
Since 2006, almost five thousand bicycles have been donated.
For citizens wishing to donate a bicycle to the program, they can drop off their bike at any of the Sheriff’s Office locations below:
North Precinct- 750 Park Avenue, Building 4, Titusville, Florida.
East Precinct- 2575 N. Courtenay Parkway, Merritt Island, Florida.
Canaveral Precinct- 111 Polk Avenue, Cape Canaveral, Florida.
West Precinct- 2725 Judge Fran Jamieson Way, Building E, Melbourne, Florida.
South Precinct- 1515 Sarno Road, Building B, Melbourne, Florida.
Criminal Investigations- 340 Gus Hipp Boulevard, Rockledge, Florida.
Sheriff’s Work Farm- 2955 Pluckebaum Road, Cocoa, Florida.
For any additional information about the Sheriff’s Bike Program, please contact Major Darrell Hibbs at (321) 690-1502.
IMAGE CREDIT: BCSO
