A Georgetown, Ont. teen was inspired to create a not-for-profit agency after his bike was stolen when he was 9 years old.

Hayden Downes-Mill, 14, said his BMX bike was stolen from his front yard five years ago, shortly before Thanksgiving. The bike had been a birthday gift from his parents, and he said he was crushed by the incident.

"My favourite part of the bike was the sense of freedom," Downes-Mill told CTV's Canada AM on Monday.

"I could go to my friends' houses and not have to get a drive by my dad or mom all the time."

Downes-Mill and his parents wrote a letter to a local paper, imploring the thief to return the bike. Instead, it was found in a dumpster, destroyed beyond repair.

Touched by his story, strangers reached out to Downes-Mill, and several bikes were dropped off at his home. Others gave gift cards, and one couple mailed the family a $200 cheque.

Downes-Mill decided to give the extra bikes to other kids in his neighbourhood who couldn't afford a new one. It was then that he came up with the idea for "Hayden's Re-Bicycling," an organization that collects and repairs bikes for kids who can't afford the costs.

Five years after the organization was created, Downes-Mill said he's given away more than 900 bikes. The organization has also taken in approximately 1,000 bikes, repairing some, and stripping others for parts, which are then sold.

"That money will go back into getting more parts and tools," he said.

He estimated that the "re-bicycling" process has stopped approximately 17,220 pounds of metal from going to landfills.

Downes-Mill has given away hundreds of bikes, but said that one particular story stood out to him. He said he was touched by the story of two brothers who were able to see each other after receiving bikes from his program. The brothers had been unable to spend time together after being put in separate foster homes on opposite ends of the city.

"They had no way to get to each other. One of their teachers came and got bikes for them from our program and they were able to meet up," he said.