By Sterling McGinn
Tahquamenon Area Schools (TAS) has received a mini grant through the Safe Routes to School programming from the Michigan Department of Transportation for a bicycle library and bike safety programming for local kids.
The announcement was made late last week. Newberry is the only Upper Peninsula recipient in the for the grant, which awarded $282,000 to seven locations in Michigan.
The local Safe Routes to School committee, with representatives from the health department, school, Village of Newberry, and Helen Newberry Joy Hospital, applied for the mini grant.
“We will construct a bike lending library where we will have bikes of different sizes and kids can check them out,” said committee member Roxanna Transit. “We are looking at purchasing eight bikes and an adaptive bike, which kids can use during the months that bicycling can take place.”
The grant funds are for the 2026-2027 school year and committee member Natasha King hopes that everything will be in place before school starts this fall.
The TAS Career and Technical Education (CTE) shop and health classes will also be involved with the bike library program, the committee says.
“Linus Parr’s shop class will build the shelter for the bikes along with the racks to hold them,” Transit said.
“The CTE health class will manage the bike lending,” King said. “Kids will need to have a consent form signed by their family and the child to check out a bike. They will check out a bike with a helmet and a lock, and the bike can be used to get back in forth from home to school and for recreational purposes.”
Kids will be taught bike safety prior to being allowed to borrow the bike.
The school C.A.M.P. (Counseling And Medical Place), a school-based health program, will hold a mileage tracking club where kids will log their mileage to and from school. The kids will have opportunities to earn prizes and receive recognition.
In addition to the bike lending library, the committee is planning to hold community bike programing like the Trail Town Bike Fest, which was held in Newberry on May 2 at the TORC Park. Transit said bike helmets and 10 bikes were given away at that event. Participants also learned about essential bike safety.
This mini grant will cover additional programming and King says she hopes that the Trail Town Bike Fest will continue to grow.
Transit said that the local Safe Routes to School team will be applying in September for the main Safe Routes to School grant, which has a potential for $900,000 that would be used to update several sidewalks in the village.
