Bicycles for Humanity: Cambridge Now, October 2007
On October 23, 2007 the Toronto blog ibiketo.ca published a daily roundup of Canadian cycling news. Under a "Regional" heading it listed "Bicycles for Humanity Sets Wheels in Motion to Battle Poverty", credited to Cambridge Now and dated October 22. The text of that story is not available, so this page describes the organization the headline names. Last checked: November 10, 2026.
Quick facts
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Organization | Bicycles for Humanity (B4H) |
| Started | 2005, by a Vancouver man (per The Banner, 2011) |
| Activity | Collecting used bicycles and shipping them in containers to Africa |
| Ontario chapters mentioned in sources | Huron (Blyth area) |
| Cambridge Now item | Listed October 22, 2007; content not recovered |
What the organization does
A January 2011 article in The Banner says Bicycles for Humanity began in 2005 with a Vancouver man. Donated funds buy a shipping container, which on arrival becomes a bike shop. Local people are hired to repair and refurbish bicycles and sell them cheaply, or give them away in cases of extreme need.
The same article describes the Huron chapter's work: Mark Nonkes, who had lived in Namibia for three years, collected more than 500 bicycles destined for Namibia, with churches in several southern Ontario towns acting as drop-off points. Volunteers prepared bikes for shipping by turning the handlebars sideways and removing the pedals. The stated need was money for shipping.
A 2018 Peninsula News Review article about a Victoria-area chapter reports a tenth container sent in ten years. Each load held 461 bicycles and traveled by barge to Vancouver, by truck to a container port and then by freight ship to Africa. The article says the bikes are meant to improve access to education, food, water, work and health care.
The group's Colorado affiliate states its mission as empowering people through affordable and transformative mobility, and says about 400 bikes are gathered and repaired for each container.
The 2007 item
The ibiketo.ca roundup is the only opened source that mentions the Cambridge Now story. It gives no summary of the story, and no opened source confirms a Cambridge chapter or a Waterloo Region shipment in 2007.
Frequently asked questions
What is Bicycles for Humanity? A volunteer-driven group, started in 2005, that collects used bikes and ships them in containers to communities in Africa.
What happens to the container? According to The Banner, it is turned into a bike shop run by local hired staff.
What did the Cambridge Now story say? That is not known from the sources opened; only its headline and date are recorded.
Is there a Cambridge chapter? None of the sources checked confirm one.
Why does the story appear on ibiketo.ca? The blog published near-daily links to Canadian cycling news and listed the item on October 23, 2007.
Sources
ibiketo.ca "Cycling news" (October 23, 2007); The Banner (January 2011); Peninsula News Review (July 17, 2018); Bicycles for Humanity Colorado, mission page.