It’s a Saturday morning at Eastfield Mall in Springfield and the halls show considerable activity, but none more than in front of a store space being used by Pedal Thru Youth. There is a crowd of Girl Scouts who are methodically loading various items into backpacks. They bring the completed backpacks to the front of the store where they are stacked as neatly as a New England woodpile.

There are backpacks for girls, for boys, for adult men and adult women. When I arrived, there were about 600 backpacks ready to go and more to be assembled.

The effort was another activity of Pedal Thru Youth, the nonprofit stared by Bob “The Bike Man” Charland.

I’ve done a number of stories about Charland and his activities and I, like anyone else who meets him, is impressed with him and what he does.

In this instance, Charland has assembled a group of youth, Girls Scouts, Boy Scouts and 4-H members, who are working together to create these backpacks that will be used by law enforcement in communities such as Hartford, CT, Chicopee, Springfield, Holyoke and Greenfield.

Police officers will have them in their cruisers, ready to give to the child who needs some assurance or to the homeless person who would like a little help.

For children the backpacks offer some snacks, a stuffed animals, hats and gloves. There are hygiene items in the adult packs.

On one of the coldest days of the year so far, these backpacks seem to be a very timely resource.
Charland has also assembled more than 1,000 coats to distribute to those who need one.

Eastfield Mall has donated the store space for the project and the contents of the backpacks have come about through donations and Charland spending his own money.

Charland started repairing bicycles for children in 2012. He wanted to promote a healthy lifestyle in low-income families who might not be able to afford a bike.

He would take bikes that were donated, clean them, fix them and find new owners. With ties to local law enforcement, he wanted to build a bridge between kids and law enforcement and after 2017 created the non-profit organization, Pedal Thru Youth, to do this work on a larger scale.

In 2022 he donated more than 1,500 bikes to deserving kids in Western Massachusetts and Worcester.
I remember covering one of his delivery events at a Springfield school. Local police officers helped bring in the bikes into the gym of the DeBerry School. I cannot overemphasize the joy on the faces of those kids when they received their bike.

Last year, Charland helped local relief efforts to get needed supplies to Ukraine.

Charland is passionate about the work he does but is a low-keyed person who does not court the spotlight. For me, that makes what he does much more appealing. There are many people who talk the talk about public service and are very happy to receive attention through endless social media posts and selfies touting themselves and their contributions.

Charland walks the walk and if you are looking to support a local charitable effort that truly makes a huge difference in the lives of children, then go to https://www.pedalthruyouth.org and see how you can help.

G. Michael Dobbs has worked for Reminder Publishing for 22 years of his nearly 50-year-career in the Western Mass. media scene, and previously served as the executive editor. He has spent his time with the publisher covering local politics, interesting people and events.The opinions expressed within the article are that of the author’s and do not represent the opinions and beliefs of the paper.