Meet Fred Frederiksen, founder of the Chicago Bike Project. Fred is a parish leader at St. George of Chicago who applied his talents toward an idea in an application to the Mustard Seed Fund, the Metropolis of Chicago’s program that awards parishes with grants to promote welcoming, evangelization, and outreach. Today, the idea he conceived is a thriving ministry of St. George of Chicago showing how parishes are places where heads, hearts, and hands come together for the good of those in need.
The Chicago Bike Project‘s mission is to provide free bicycles and ongoing maintenance to Chicago communities in financial need. An outreach ministry supported by the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago’s Mustard Seed Fund and proud recipients of the Hellenic Foundation Grant Award, the project is headquartered at St. George in Lincoln Park. The program provides free bicycles, locks, lights and helmets as well as free maintenance to Chicagoans in financial need. Their hope is to enable individuals greater access to food pantries, shelters, work opportunities, church services, legal obligations, and most importantly the opportunity to travel at no cost.
Cars and other forms of public transportation are oftentimes inaccessible due to financial constraints and concerns for personal safety. This can drastically restrict one’s ability to perform basic duties by limiting their access to out-of-reach locations.
That being said, in Chicago, most necessities can be reached within a 5-mile radius. On foot, 5 miles equates to an average of 2 hours spent walking, however on a bicycle, that transforms into a speedy 30 minutes. What if that hour and a half each way afforded a person access to work, open hours at a food pantry, homeless shelters, Church Service, or legal obligations?
A bicycle can instantly improve a person’s life by affording them time, access, and freedom to travel. The Chicago Bike Project provides that opportunity by offering bicycles, helmets, locks, lights and maintenance to communities in need.
Photo: Chicago Bike Project.
