Old Saybrook - It wasn't so long ago that Dave Fowler was driving from Essex to Ivoryton to Old Saybrook to rummage through backyard sheds and garages to retrieve bicycles, tools, helmets and anything else needed so Bikes For Kids could give away another two-wheeler.

"We were operating out of seven sheds in three towns, and I was climbing over 15 bikes to get to the two in back that I wanted, and, well, I'm 62 so I just don't want to do that now," said Fowler, a retired schoolteacher and volunteer with Bikes For Kids, which gave away 1,280 bikes in 2014 and 1,368 the year before that.

"We have been rolling for, no pun intended, 26 years," said Fowler, "and as of today we are about 70 bikes shy of having donated 17,000 bicycles."

The creation of the late Chuck Graeb, who told friends and supporters he never had a bike growing up, the nonprofit organization has thrived and grown over the years.

What started as a gesture of kindness by Graeb to rehabilitate a few used bikes and recycle them to children who otherwise wouldn't have a bike has matured to a nonprofit organization that has collected thousands of bicycles, spiffed them up, and rolled them off with helmets to places as close as New London, Norwich and New Haven and as far flung as Tanzania and Haiti.

In 2012, after the devastation left by Hurricane Sandy, Bikes For Kids convoyed 141 two-wheelers to the heart of the destruction zone.

"Everything was literally burned or washed away," said Fowler, who taught elementary and middle school students for 34 years. "It was a true disaster. It looked like news clips of Beirut when they had all that bombing, and we were giving away bikes that day to kids who literally had no home to go home to."

Fowler, who met Chuck Graeb years ago when Fowler needed a bicycle for a student in his middle school bike club, has carried on Graeb's mission since his friend passed away.

"All through his career in business he always thought that every kid should have a bike," Fowler said of Graeb. "He grew up in the Bronx and never had a bike, and when he retired, he started to collect gently used bikes, pick them up, and fix them with his friends. And the numbers grew. He dedicated 20 years to that."

Today, thanks to the generosity of Wallingford businessman Bill Pappas, Fowler and other volunteers are no longer hunting through sheds and garages but instead are housed in a 2,700-square-foot home dubbed The Wheelhouse at 20 Research Parkway in Old Saybrook. A year ago, Pappas donated the space for three years, and while Bikes For Kids still stores some supplies in sheds and garages, most of its holdings are organized and secured in the donated space.

Stanley Tools of New Britain gave the nonprofit $1,200 worth of tools; Bob's Discount Furniture contributed a $1,000 gift card toward office furniture; and BLR of Saybrook provided 25 industrial-type storage racks that now vertically hold about 450 bicycles. (Another 200 bikes are being stored at another warehouse owned by Pappas in Wallingford.) Also, the bicycle shop Peddle Power in Essex and Middletown, where the nonprofit buys parts and supplies, has been a longtime generous supporter of Bikes For Kids, doing some work for free or at a discount, Fowler said.

Eventually, Bikes For Kids would like to have its own larger, permanent space, and has started a capital fund toward that end.

Every Thursday morning and again in the evening, volunteers gather at The Wheelhouse to work on bicycles. Retirees and students use screwdrivers and Allen wrenches to ready bikes for donation. They crumble tin foil, dip it in water, and scrub rust until the metal shines again.

They make sure that seats are tightened, brakes work, and that handlebars are secure and have reflectors on them.

Some volunteers, like 99-year-old Charlie French of Meriden, work in their own homes. French is Fowler's uncle and, on a regular basis, Fowler brings bikes to Meriden so French can fix them.

"A nice set of hand grips and streamers make a little girl's bike look really sharp when we are done with it," Fowler said.

"There's a lot of life in a bike," said Dick Pfeiffer of Cheshire, who drives about an hour each way each week to volunteer for the group. "I've been doing it since 2010 because I think it's a good cause."

A retired safety consultant, Pfeiffer said he and his wife began donating bikes to the cause before he retired and was able to give his time.

Volunteering "doesn't cost anything. The only thing it will cost you is time," he said, and added, "Or they can participate by donating bikes."

Pfeiffer makes repairs in The Wheelhouse, and takes bikes back to Cheshire to work on them at home, too.

Organized by size, gender

At The Wheelhouse, the donated bikes come in every size, shape and brand from the ordinary to extraordinary.

They've received unicycles, a circa-1948 Whizzer motor bike, a miniature circus bike, a wooden bike, a collapsible bike, as well as banana-seat bikes, Treks, Giants, Schwinns, Stingrays, Huffys and many, many more.

"We get bikes that need new tires, or sometimes new tubes, and seats get banged up pretty badly," Fowler said. "People don't want to just take bikes to the dump and throw them in the metal pile, they want to get more use out of them."

Most of the bikes donated to and refurbished by Bikes For Kids stay in Connecticut.

Churches and social services agencies will make requests, as do schools, and sometimes there are calls from work-training programs with clients who can take a bicycle on a bus and get to a job.

"Most of our bikes go to kids who otherwise have no way of obtaining a bike," Fowler said. Every bike is given away for free and delivered with a new helmet.

Bikes at The Wheelhouse are in various stages of disrepair, but when one is finished and has been safety-checked, it gets a piece of bright green tape on its seat, indicating it is ready to go out the door. Then, when someone calls requesting a bike, perhaps a 24-inch model for a girl, Fowler or the other volunteers know where to look since the bicycles are organized by size and gender.

Donations come from individuals, and many from police departments when they clean out evidence rooms. Every donation is accepted, and it is appreciated when bikes are delivered to The Wheelhouse on Thursdays when the volunteers are there.

"Many bikes have been gently used, and they just got outgrown pretty quickly," Fowler said. "And our guys have a wonderful way of making most of the rest of them look pretty new, too."

Bikes For Kids does most of its business word of mouth - whether it is a request for a bike or someone wanting to make a donation.

"People just know we're around," said Fowler, who said he's recently had calls from Providence and from Yonkers, N.Y., from people wanting to donate bikes and asking if a volunteer might come to get them.

That, he said, is too far to go.

And then there was the email from the father in the Polynesian kingdom of Tonga.

"He wanted three bikes for his kids, and unfortunately, I couldn't help him," said Fowler, "but I did give him some suggestions of places to check with."

a.baldelli@theday.com

Twitter: @annbaldelli

BIKES FOR KIDS

What: A nonprofit run by volunteers who collect and refurbish gently used bicycles to redistribute to those in need.

Where: The Wheelhouse, 20 Research Parkway, Old Saybrook.

Phone: (860) 388-2453

Website: www.bikes-for-kids.net

How to help: Volunteer to repair bikes from 9 a.m. to noon or 6 to 9 p.m. on Thursdays. That's also a good time to drop off a bicycle for donation. If you're bringing several bikes, call ahead to make arrangements.

More: Volunteers can also host a bike drive or a fundraiser. Monetary donations are always accepted to use for helmets and bike parts. And volunteers can help with correspondence and other clerical duties. Bikes For Kids is also looking for support for its capital campaign.