For more than seven years, a North Carolina church has been providing the means for those in need of transportation, not by offering rides, but by offering bicycles.

The latest recipients of Peak United Methodist Church’s bike ministry are the clients of Zion Shelter, the men’s homeless shelter in Washington. Thursday at First United Methodist Church in Washington, Zion Shelter Board of Directors’ members met with Beth Bordeaux, a Peak UMC member, who, with Partners for Impact, works with nonprofits across North Carolina to strengthen community collaboration. Bordeaux handed off a truck bed full of bicycles for the homeless population of Washington, a donation that will definitely have an impact.

Zion board member Linda Thornton said a lack of transportation affects every aspect of these men’s lives — including medical appointments, simple errand running and finding and keeping employment — which many people do not realize.

“Walking is the only mode of transportation they have,” Thornton said, adding that being homeless isn’t the only manifestation of the position these men are in. “Anything you take for granted, any piece of privilege you have, they don’t have. … This will be a tremendous opportunity to access services.”

The bicycles are gifts, not loans. Each is donated to Peak UMC in Apex, then the church involves its congregation in repair day workshops where they fix, wash and test ride the bikes.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity for children and families to get involved. Everyone can participate in turning something broken into something usable again,” according to a Peak Bike Ministry press release.

In 2016, the church donated 73 bikes, mostly to adults needing transportation and families unable to afford bikes for their children, in addition to donating another 100 bikes to the international organization Bikes for the World.

The donation came about through Bordeaux’s participation in Beaufort County 360’s housing and homeless task force, which is working to create a women and children’s shelter in Washington.

“When someone in the meeting mentioned that bikes sure would be helpful for the men at Zion Shelter, I knew we could make it happen and I thought of the Bike Ministry from my church,” Bordeaux said in the press release.

The bikes are not loans, Thornton said.

“They are giving these bicycles, not to lend them, but to take with them,” she said. “The goal is to give a helping hand to get out of their horrible poverty situation and continue to progress with their lives.