Even at five years old, Sammamish resident Tony Santerelli understands the importance of donating bicycles to people living in Africa.

“They might not have cars,” he said, sporting a dinosaur helmet with a mohawk, while determinedly loosening bicycle breaks Saturday.

Santerelli, along with his mother and sister, helped gather donated bikes during the 10th annual ARAS Foundation African Bike Project held on the Sammamish City Hall Plaza from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

They were among nearly 40 volunteers who helped prepare bikes for the long boat ride to Ghana, Africa, where they will serve as a sustainable mode of transportation for the locals. For millions of Africans, biking and walking is the only form of transportation available — but bicycles are in short supply.

Santerelli has been helping with the drive since he was 2 ½ years old. His mom, Amie, a long-time Sammamish resident and ARAS volunteer, said she has brought her children to help with the drive for many years.

“It gives the kids a bigger perspective of the world and what they can offer,” she said.

The drive gathered 326 bikes, and hundreds of parts, which were loaded and transported in two trucks and taken to a cargo container in Seattle.

For the last decade, the ARAS Foundation has collected more than 6,300 bikes in support of the Village Bicycle Project, a Seattle-based nonprofit that formed in 1999 to bring bikes to Ghana and Sierra Leone, Africa.

The Village Bicycle Project has delivered more than 85,000 to Africa since 1999.

The project, in collaboration with ARAS, hopes to improve the quality of life in Africa by providing a faster way to receive health care or to travel to the market, the farm or school.

“It adds to the economic development of the country when you have sustainable transportation,” Village Bicycle Project volunteer Ron Watson said. “Having sustainable transportation really helps improve people’s lives.”

Watson’s wife, Meg, is the Village Bicycle Project operations director and treasurer.

ARAS Community Service Director Mary Trask, who ran the event Saturday, said it’s in her bones to volunteer.

“Community service is just kind of my calling,” she said.

Helpers lowered bike seats and loosened handlebars to turn them sideways in order to save space when loading them into the trucks. Volunteers also removed pedals and attached them to the frame of the bike.

All bikes were accepted — despite their condition. Damaged bikes can be stripped for parts.

These bikes, which would have otherwise gone unused or discarded in a landfill, are on their way to become someone’s first bike.

“Everybody remembers their first bike,” Trask said.

For more information about ARAS bike project visit www.arasfoundation.org/bike_project.html.

For more information on the Village Bicycle Project visit www.villagebicycleproject.org/.