Bicycle Rescue for Youth was founded by Brad Belcher, a retired Boeing Technical Designer. Bicycle Rescue for Youth was founded in 2015 in response to the rising childhood obesity issue that plagues the country. He lives in Ravensdale Wa, an unincorporated area of South King County. Rural areas have a large percentage of low-income families that can not afford to buy their children bicycles.
Brad was raised by a single mother, with an absent stepfather, in a very low-income family with two brothers. For most of his youth, his family was on public assistance as it was called back then. In the mid-1960’s his grandparents bought he and his brother new bikes. They only had them for about a week before they came up missing off the front porch. Years later it was found out that their stepfather had stolen them.
In the late 1960’s his family moved to CA and for a brief time were homeless staying in a women’s shelter for several weeks. There wasn’t always money for food or rent so anything extra, such as bicycles, were out of the question. This being the case he didn’t learn to ride until he was a bit older than most kids, on a bike he borrowed from the neighbors. The bike was too big for him and after several failed attempts managed to ride it down the driveway. This was a joyful event in his life.
After the family moved back to Washington he still did not have a bicycle. Shortly after moving to Kent Wa, he became friends with one of the neighbor kids. He got permission from the kids’ parents to take bike parts from a scrap heap. With these parts, he managed to piece together the first bike he would own. It took a lot of trial and error to get the parts to fit correctly, but it was a good learning experience. He learned how to use tools and to think a problem through to arrive at a solution. Even though the bike was different colors and a mismatch of many parts there was a sense of pride and accomplishment. He rode it everywhere without realizing the amount of exercise he was receiving. It provided a sense of freedom that he could now go anywhere he wanted if mom said it was OK. His memory of living in poverty and the stress and psychological effects that go with it are still a vivid memory.
Brad started to work when he was eight picking berries on the local berry farms of Puyallup. These jobs were necessary to buy his school clothes. In 1973 he graduated from working on berry farms to working for Youth Corps, a part of Job Corps. He participated in establishing the Mill Creek Canyon trails in Kent Wa, worked as a custodians assistant, participated in a drama troop and then on to Jack in the Box in high school all the time buying his own school clothes and taking on more and more of the teenage financial burden. He attended two technical schools after high school and in 1980 landed a job at Boeing as a Mechanical Designer working at the company for 36 years before retiring.
Before taking up biking Brad was a runner until arthritis forced him to take up bike riding again. The more he rode he began to realize that he preferred biking to running. It’s much easier on the joints. As his riding progressed he began to notice the number of free bicycles on Craig’s List. The more he saw an idea began to take hold. He thought that someone should take these used bicycles, refurbish them and donate them to low-income children much as he was.
He was able to ride for a year or so before being diagnosed with several debilitating and chronic illnesses. These required a great deal of time and the idea was put on the back burner while he dealt with getting better. One day at a doctor appointment he mentioned his idea to the doctor and she thought it was a great idea for a non-profit thus Bicycle Rescue for Youth was born.