Dec. 19—A Perry High School sophomore has fulfilled the wishes of more than six dozen children in need who wanted bicycles for Christmas.

Brody Hicks upgraded 64 used bicycles and donated them to the nonprofit Perry Center of Lake County for its annual program that provides Christmas gifts for children.

He also supplied new helmets to accompany all bikes presented to the youngsters.

Brody operates his own nonprofit program, called Upcycle Cycles. The mission of Upcycle Cycles, which Brody started about nine months ago, is refurbishing bicycles and giving them to children in need.

“It’s definitely rewarding when you have this bike that doesn’t work at all, and you put it together, it works and you give it somebody who’s in need,” Brody said. “It really makes you feel good.”

Brody said he discovered his passion for bicycles about two years ago, thanks to a journey through the state of New York. More specifically, he and three family members rode two tandem bikes from Niagara Falls to New York City, carrying all of their possessions with them.

In 2020, Brody and his older brother, Ethan Hicks, started the Pirates Pedal program, which loaned bicycles to Perry School District students free of charge. Through this venture, Brody gained experience at maintaining and repairing bikes.

One of his teachers at Perry High School, Rita Soeder, had become aware of his interest in bicycles. Soeder told him about a pile of old bicycles she saw at the Lake County Landfill in Painesville Township.

“She asked me if I wanted to do something with it, and it seemed like a good idea,” he said. “So I decided to start fixing bikes and finding people in need to give them to.”

Initially, Brody relied on the landfill as the prime source of old bikes that could be restored. More recently, though, he’s transitioned to accepting more contributions of used bicycles from private owners.

“Overall, these bikes are a little higher quality and easier to deal with after they’re donated,” Brody said. “And I fix those and try to redistribute them.”

An area school district was the first recipient of bicycles refurbished by Upcycle Cycles. The charity donated eight bicycles during the summer to Painesville School District.

Also this past summer, Brody reached out to the Perry Center of Lake County, which is located in Perry Village, to see if the organization would want any refurbished bicycles to distribute to clients.

The Perry Center provides a variety of charitable services within the Perry community.

Perry Center Co-Administrator Brenda Martin expressed interest in Brody’s offer. The center was looking ahead toward its 2023 Christmas assistance program, part of which seeks to supply gifts for children.

Eventually, the center sent out a notice to clients that their children could request bicycles as part of their wish lists. Parents were asked to include the height of those children, so Brody could attempt to furnish bikes of appropriate sizes, Martin said.

In a post on the Upcycle Cycles Facebook page, Brody said he had worked for two months to fulfill the requests for all 64 bikes that would be given to children through the Perry Center Christmas initiative.

All of those bikes were brought to the Perry Center by Dec. 15, and then delivered to clients.

Martin said she was very grateful to Brody for his hard work in providing a significant number of bikes to the center prior to Christmas.

“Brody did a nice job,” she said.

Awareness about Upcycle Cycles has increased over the past year, especially after two Cleveland TV news channels featured stories on the nonprofit entity.

In addition, Brody launched a GoFundMe online fundraising campaign for Upcycle Cycles, which so far has generated about $2,400 to help buy bike parts and accessories. Brody used a portion of this revenue to purchase helmets that came with the bicycles given away by the Perry Center.

Brody said he would like to do more collaborations with the Perry Center, to distribute the bikes that he restores.

As for the future of Upcycle Cycles, Brody said he hopes to keep operating the charity until he graduates from high school.

Beyond high school, his future aspirations include going to an Ivy League university, and perhaps pursuing a business-related major.

Brody also is a member of the Perry High School swim team, and wants to participate in NCAA swimming at whatever university he attends.

However, before heading off college, Brody said he’ll attempt to secure the future of Upcycle Cycles.

“I’m going to try to get somebody else to do it — pass it on,” he said.