The UH Police Department participated in a bicycle abatement program recently in which abandoned bicycles were removed from bike racks across campus.

The bicycles were taken to UHPD's impound lot, where they were logged in and stored for a specified amount of time, as mandated by Texas law, to allow the owners to claim them. Once the mandated time expired, the department was left with hundreds of unclaimed bicycles.

Police Officer Monica Davison began to look for organizations that would benefit from donated bicycles. She found two that were ecstatic to receive the donations.

The first organization is Light House Baptist Church, which recently began a bike program with its youth ministry "Worship 10:14". The program teaches youths how to repair bicycles and get them back to working order. Once the bicycles are in good working order, they then donate them to people in need. Some of the bicycles go to children who do not own one, while others may go to an adult in the community who has no mode of transportation. The leader of the program, Todd White aka "Brother Todd," reported the youths were excited about the donation and couldn't wait to bless people in need.

The second organization is Chain Reaction Ministries. The mission of the organization is to provide freedom of transportation to those in need through a ministry of bicycle recycling. They also take bicycles in any condition and repair them to working condition to donate to community members in need. Pastor David Finklea said he was very thankful for the donation and excited about how many more people that they will be able to help through it.

Davison enjoys working with bike programs and charities as bicycling is something she enjoys. Through this initiative, the UH Police Department plans to partner with these charitable organizations and continue to donate bicycles when they are available.