In 2016, Bob Wyckham was watching the Tour de France when something on the riders’ jerseys caught his eye: a small image of a hand. That bit of curiosity led him to Qhubeka, an organization that was working alongside World Bicycle Relief at the time. After learning about WBR’s mission, Bob and his friend David Hoag decided to raise some money to help girls get to school. Both have daughters, so the cause hit close to home. Between the two of them and a friend who matched their fundraising, they funded four bicycles in their first year. The next year, they made a list of everyone they knew, sent out a message, and watched their supporters slowly grow. Today, their community includes roughly 350 supporters!

The Bikes for Girls team draws first from Bob and David’s cycling club, a group made up of senior cyclists, and then from friends and family. They’ve taken their pitch to Rotary Clubs, who have been very generous, and into high school classrooms, helping Social Justice students understand the relationship between mobility and poverty and the difference a single bicycle can make. For Bob, the reason it all matters comes down to this:

Ten years later, Bikes for Girls has helped put bicycles in the hands of thousands of students — proof of what a chance encounter, a good question, and a growing circle of friends can build over a decade.