Home Football ‘KING’s Greatness’ – LeBron James partners with Lyft to provide bicycles to underprivileged youth

‘KING’s Greatness’ – LeBron James partners with Lyft to provide bicycles to underprivileged youth

Football — 07/29/2023

LeBron James Partners With Lyft to Bring Bike Access to Youth in Need

 

 

  • LeBron James and the YMCA are partnering with Lyft to offer free bikeshare memberships to eligible youth in New York City, Chicago, and the Bay Area in order to improve their access to transportation.
  • Called LyftUp, the program aims to broaden the opportunities of youth in lower income and disconnected communities through improving their access to transportation.
  • LeBron James has frequently given back to communities in need through donating bicycles, including starting a school for at-risk youth in 2018.

 

Lyft has partnered with the YMCA, LeBron James, and his organization, Uninterrupted, to create a program called LyftUp, dedicated to meeting the transportation needs of youth. LyftUp is looking to distribute “thousands” of free, one-year bikeshare memberships to eligible youth, ages 16 to 20, starting this spring in New York City with CitiBike, and then in Chicago with Divvy and the Bay Area with Bay Wheels.

Through the help of the YMCA, the LyftUp program will identify eligible youth to receive memberships and education on bike safety. The program’s goal is to improve transportation access for youth, which in turn could lead to better opportunities.

 

“The Y is committed to helping young people reach their full potential, and we know that affordable and reliable transportation is a key component,” said Kevin Washington, the president and CEO of the YMCA, in a joint statement with Lyft.

 

 

The announcement came on January 21, as the program was unveiled at a YMCA in Harlem in front of a group of 50 or so local teenagers, who were the first to receive free memberships. James made a surprise appearance and talked about his love of bikes and how a bike can change a kid’s life for the better.

 

“Growing up, a bike changed everything for me. It was more than a way to go see my friends or play basketball—it was a way of life,” James said, in Lyft’s announcement. “A bike opened doors, allowed me to get to safe places after school, and gave me access to opportunities I never would have known.”

This isn’t James’s first excursion into bicycle-related charitable efforts. His organization, Uninterrupted, aims to empower athletes, including 14-year-old BMX rider Erik Aguilar; in 2018, through the LeBron James Family Foundation, he opened a school for at-risk youth in his hometown of Akron, Ohio, where each student receives a bicycle; and before launching his school, there was the annual King for Kids Bikeathon, through which he donated hundreds of bicycles to kids.

 

 

 

James has also been candid about his love for bike commuting (and his foray into mountain biking), as well as how much he benefited from his local YMCA when he was a kid.

This content is imported from youTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

Lyft users can contribute to the program, too, by rounding up the fee for every trip they take—those proceeds will be donated to the YMCA. Lyft will also continue to offer discounted memberships to anyone who qualifies for federal assistance programs, like SNAP and Medicaid.