Teen triathlete expands bike access to families in need
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Jonathan Thai, a 17-year-old triathlete from Alpharetta, Georgia, founded the Pedal Forward Foundation and raised over $30,000 to provide bicycles and riding lessons to low-income families.
Thai started the foundation after a local bike workshop closed, inspired by his parents’ upbringing in rural Vietnam and recognizing the transportation benefits a bicycle can offer. He secured 400 donated bicycles and 500 helmets, then hosted over a dozen free bike clinics for children, teaching them skills from balance biking to navigating traffic.
The Pedal Forward Foundation received support from organizations including the National Charity League, YMCA, and Boys and Girls Clubs of America. These clinics typically teach 30 to 45 children at a time. Thai’s work has expanded beyond Georgia, with new chapters established in New York and Tennessee. Next year, the foundation plans to travel to Vietnam, where Thai’s parents grew up, to continue its mission through a humanitarian cycling trip.
This initiative joins other youth-led nonprofits making a difference, including a 12-year-old in Arizona who collected over 30,000 diapers and a 15-year-old who funds education for children in Ghana.
