Urbana, Ill. (WCIA)

The Bike Project of Urbana-Champaign, in partnership with the U of I Campus Bike Center, gave back to the community this holiday season.

After collecting 40-45 donated bikes, The Bike Project refurbished the donations and gave them away to kids in need on Saturday.

The event was first come, first served; one bike per kid, and children had to be present to pick out their bike.

The donations were gone within 15 minutes.

“It’s just great to see so many happy kids riding off on their bikes,” says volunteer Patrick Barko. “I think it’s a good way for us to reach out in the community and build some good will.”

Barko told ciLiving’s Erin Valle they’re hopeful donations will increase next year as this was the organizations’ first annual event.

“Hopefully we’ll have more time to plan in the future… so we can give even more bikes away [to] the community.”