MARYSVILLE – In the United States, bicycles are often taken for granted.

Everyone has one, right? Seems like it, especially for kids.

But in extremely poor communities in Africa and elsewhere bicycles are not a luxury. Bikes actually can make their lives easier and more productive.

Officer Joe Belleme of the Marysville Police Department knows that and wanted to find homes for bikes in town that had been abandoned.

“Though it’s something we often take for granted here in the United States, a bicycle is life-changing in Zambia,” Belleme said.

Bicycles found by citizens or discovered abandoned or discarded by officers are often brought to the police department, booked for safekeeping as “found property” and held for 90 days in case an owner comes forward. Unclaimed bicycles are annually donated to various charitable and nonprofit organizations. Belleme reconditioned or repaired 24 bicycles that were sent 9,500 miles to Ciyanjano Christian Campground, a retreat for churches and people in the slums of Lusaka, Zambia’s capitol city.

At Ciyanjano, only one staff member owns a car. Public transportation is time-consuming, expensive and reportedly dangerous, an MPD news release says.

The bikes were sent off in August in a shipping container filled with books, educational materials, helmets and other supplies from the state.

Christmas came early on Nov. 10, 2017, when each of the 14 staff at Ciyanjano was given a bicycle and a helmet so that they could commute to work or

go on errands. The staff also delivered 10 children’s bicycles and helmets to a local orphanage.

“We are thrilled to have been involved in this past year’s donation of bicycles to an amazing group of people on the other side of the globe,” Sgt. Pete Shove of the MPD says in the release.