The end of summer is often the time homeowners do major cleanups of garages and basements. Often, they find bicycles that need a new home. The Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) is asking for residents to donate bikes to make a difference in their local community.

MCDOT’s annual bike collection event will be held from 7 a.m.-2 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 11, during Community Service Month. The event will collect child and adult bikes and bike parts outside of the County Council Office Building Garage, which is located at the intersection of East Jefferson and Monroe streets in Rockville. Used bike helmets will not be collected.

Donated bikes will be distributed to residents in need through the MCDOT’s Bike Match MoCo program after being cleaned up by volunteers from the nonprofit Rockville Bike Hub. Some of the children’s bikes will also be distributed through Rockville’s Terrific Kids program and older bikes are donated to Bikes for The World.

Six previous bike donation events have resulted in 1,374 bicycles collected. Last year, 290 bikes were collected—a considerable increase from the 120 collected in the event’s first year in 2017.

Residents can also make monetary donations (by check) to the Rockville Bike Hub during the bicycle collection event. The funds will be used to purchase new bike helmets and parts to repair the bikes.

For more information about the event, send an email to paul.gatons@montgomerycountymd.gov.