BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — A nonprofit in Bowling Green wants to mobilize people who do not have transportation. Rather than walking everywhere, they can now ride a bike for free.

What You Need To Know

  • The Goodwill Opportunity Center offers those without transportation free bicycles

  • The Last Mile to Work program takes refurbished bicycles and offers them to those in recovery who need assistance 

  • The Goodwill Center not only provides bikes, but also helps find jobs for those in the program

  • Each bike given out is free to the person enrolled in the program

Kimberly Felts, program specialist at Goodwill Opportunity Center, said, “Basically the goal is to bridge the gap between transportation and employment.”

The Goodwill Opportunity Center helps people find jobs while they recover from addiction. During that process, access to a vehicle can be scarce.

Felts said, “You really don’t know how life is without transportation until that is you.”

The program receives bikes from Louisville. They are refurbished and donated to the opportunity center in Bowling Green. People who get the bikes have to meet certain requirements, such as being enrolled in a Goodwill program and be actively employed.

Felts said, “The Last Mile to Work Program is meant for those individuals so that they can still get back and forth to work without having to ride the bus or walk so that they have a mobile means of transportation.”

The bike is completely free, and once they have it, they can keep it for life.

The program also gives people a safety bag that includes things such as a helmet and a safety vest, giving them extra security while getting back into a productive lifestyle.

 

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