Matthew Schafer was once a soldier stationed in South Korea near the Demilitarized Zone. After three years in the Army, he came back to the United States in 2012, and moved to Littleton from Illinois last year.

After a job search and getting career service help with Denver Human Services’ Veterans Services office, he said he’s starting a new job in Littleton within days, and he’ll have a new bike to help him get there.

The Way to Go program of the Denver Regional Council of Governments, which supports Bike to Work Day — this year’s was June 28 — surprised four people with new bikes June 21 in the Denver metro and Boulder County areas.

“I use the light rail, so it’s tremendously helpful to have a bike,” said Schafer, who received his at Denver Human Services’ location at 1200 Federal Blvd.

Other recipients:

• Barbara Beasley, a retired Boulder County resident living in Kestrel, an affordable housing community.

• Klint Spickelmier, a day laborer who was injured in a 2015 hit-and-run and ended up homeless due to an extended hospital stay, who battled a resulting opioid addiction and stayed at Mile High Behavioral Healthcare Comitis.

• Yam Das, an immigrant who came from a refugee camp in Nepal in 2008 and now is a U.S. citizen and laundry attendant at an area Hyatt Regency.

The Way to Go program worked with Denver Human Services, the Boulder County Housing Authority, the Comitis Crisis Center and the regional council of governments’ Elder Refugee Program to choose recipients. It also worked with Bicycle Village, Golden Bear Bikes and Republic Cycles, who sponsored some of the bikes’ costs, according to a news release by Way to Go.

Bike to Work Day in the Denver metro and Boulder County areas featured more than 200 areas that provided breakfast in the morning, water in the afternoon and “bike parties” — some with beer or barbecue — in the evening. Visit the biketoworkday.us site for more information.