What first began out of Robert Paul “Bob” Mandel’s garage in 2016 has grown to encompass nearly 8,000 square feet of space on the north side of town, with classrooms filled with bicycles ready to take their new owners wherever they wish.

Mandel passed away at his home on May 29, leaving his wife, Barbara Mandel, and a growing non-profit organization with 30+ volunteers whose mission is to give bikes to any child under 18 in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area who would otherwise not have one.

“Bob knew ahead of time that he had a very short time,” Mark Jordan said, Bob’s director of operations. “He came in three weeks ago and said he’d been diagnosed with this one very aggressive leukemia and they’d given him three weeks to live. He got about a week and a half out of it, but we were able to plan in that week what we needed to do.”

After Bob’s passing, the board is now in discussion on new leadership for the non-profit organization and will hold a board meeting to make a decision in the coming weeks.

The show goes on

When Bob announced his diagnosis, board members promised to keep his legacy going and build on the strong foundation that he had established over the past six years.

In 2017, Bob’s goal was to give away one bike per week to a deserving child. In 2018, Bob’s Free Bikes gave away 485 bikes.

In 2019, 720.

In 2020, 715.

In 2021, 815.

In 2022, Bob’s Free Bikes gave out a total of 1,085 bikes and are hoping to break the record again by the end of this year.

“So far, we’re at about 465 and it’s only early June,” Jordan said last month. “Every time [Bob] came in, he always made the comment that he had no dream of it ever getting this big.”

Many of the bikes that are donated to Bob’s Free Bikes are given to children in foster care. When foster children are transferred in and out of homes, Jordan says they are only allowed to take what they can carry.

“So, a kid may have had a bike and been an avid rider, and all of a sudden, he doesn’t have a bike,” he said.

Other recipients include children whose families can’t afford a bike or students who need reliable transportation to and from classes and work.

“Changing the Life of a Child, One Bike at a Time,” is Bob’s Free Bikes’ slogan. And while the local non-profit has never run out of bikes, they are always accepting bicycle donations on their website, bobsfreebikes.org, so they never have to turn a child away.

Life of service

After a career working in waste management, Bob spent his time at various non-profit organizations that served the needs of children, including the Special Olympics, Make-A-Wish Foundation and ultimately founding Bob’s Free Bikes.

“It was a lifetime of giving that he did,” Robyn Heimbuch said, Bob’s treasurer and community outreach volunteer. Heimbuch said Bob’s sense of humor, stories and laughter kept the volunteers entertained.

“I didn’t really realize until after he passed, but we’re a pretty tight-knit group,” Jordan said, adding that Bob loved to see the smiles of the children when they receive a bike.

“That’s why we do it. We like to see that smile on the kids’ faces. It’s not to reach the number. It’s to give that kid a bike,” Jordan said.

According to Heimbuch, reaching its first 1,000 bikes was a major milestone for Bob’s Free Bikes, but the whole crew knows it’s one of many to come.

“We want people to know that it’s not coming to an end. That we are living his legacy and we’re going to continue it,” she said. “We’re going to do what we’ve always done and what we’ve done really successfully.”