Children were excited to be presented with new, donated bikes at STAND Midland.
Children's faces lit up this week as shiny new wheels for them to enjoy the Redwoods and other rides on were presented to them.
The bikes were donated to STAND Midland, based in Rotorua, as part of the Bicycle Recycle initiative, which asked people to drop their old bikes toMountain Bike Rotorua so they could get fixed up and passed on.
Stand for Children is a national service, with the Midland site being one of seven sites, and Midland having one of the five residential children's villages in the country.
STAND Midland regional manager Toni Hocquard says it provides a residential and community service for vulnerable children, and works a lot with children who have experienced trauma.
The children stay with them for about five weeks, and the environment is designed and focused on being child-friendly and supporting children and their families to grow and develop.
It provides for children and families living in the Central North Island including Rotorua, the Coromandel, Taumarunui, Ohakune, Hamilton, Whakatāne Taupō, Tauranga.
Toni says it feels wonderful to receive these bikes.
She says they had some bikes donated to them some years ago, but the children used them so much they were falling apart.
Children at STAND Midland try out the donated bikes with (from left) Mountain Bike Rotorua's Tak Mutu, STAND Midland's Toni Hocquard and Mountain Bike Rotorua's Marcello Ojerio. Photo / Stephen Parker
"Often our children live in homes where there isn't a lot of money.
"The opportunity for our kids to have access to bikes is great, and it's also the opportunity of being just across the road from the Redwoods - we take them there.
"It promotes wellbeing and health. You ride off a lot of stress and tension."
Toni says STAND Midland is grateful for the support of the community and the work that went into fixing up the bikes.
She says a lot of the work STAND does could not be done without the support of the community.
Toni says STAND works on principles for belonging and gestures like this help the children to feel that people - who they do not even know - care.
"That is special for the children we work with.
"We also work on generosity, and this is our children seeing generosity in action which helps them develop it as well.
"We like to give the children as many experiences as we can. The more opportunities we offer them the more they can grow and develop."
Mountain Bike Rotorua's Marcello Ojerio told the children it was a real pleasure to fix the bikes up for them.
