On August 21, PCC Natural Markets in Redmond will host a bike collection drive to benefits students in Togo.

This is the fourth consecutive year PCC has participated in the bike drive and the fourth year the Seattle-based company will partner with Alaffia Sustainable Skin Care in Lacey for the drive.

More than 700 bikes have been collected since 2008.

“Our customers appreciate this opportunity to give their used bikes a purposeful second life that helps young students escape a future of poverty,” said PCC community relations manager Sara Walsh.

The bikes are distributed to disadvantaged teens for transportation to and from school in Togo, a country in west Africa.

Last December, Essoyonmeive Kpele, a senior at the Kpangalam Secondary School in Sokode, Togo, said “Without the bicycle I received from Alaffia, I would not still be in school. In 2009, my school moved 10 kilometers to Kpangalam, and I would not have been able to travel there everyday without my bike. Now I am in my final year, and I am so thankful.”

This year, PCC will host a fourth annual bike drive at two of its stores. Used, functioning, adult-sized bicycles will be accepted.