It took them a few days to do it, but 3,500 bikes, is a whole lot.  To the left you can see all of the bike cued up in a warehouse, waiting to be cleaned-up, fixed-up and given away this holiday season.  Job well done, Allina. 

Here is the release:

(Oct. 23, 2011) — Yesterday’s collection of bikes at more than 50 Allina clinics and hospitals across Minnesota and western Wisconsin garnered between 3,500 and 4,000 bike according to Free Bikes for Kidz Executive Director Terry Esau.

“We were up until 2 a.m. getting bikes into our Hopkins warehouse,” Esau said. “We estimate we have over 3,000 bikes here and another 700-800 bikes in our east side warehouse.”

“More than 400 volunteers helped make this day a huge success,” said Aimee Pappenfuss, Allina Volunteerism Program Manager.

Allina recruited staff to help collect the bikes at the Allina hospitals and clinics (including Aspen Medical Group and Quello Clinics) on Saturday, Oct. 22. Allina will also provide free helmets and concussion information to all who receive bikes in December.

Now in its fourth year, Free Bikes 4 Kidz, is a local, non-profit organization that helps children in need get free bicycles through donations.

Free Bikes for Kidz is still accepting donations of bikes and is seeking volunteers throughout the month of November to wash and refurbish the donated bikes before they are delivered to kids in need on December 10. Information on where to donate bikes and how to volunteer are at FB4K.com.