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Mick
Polly, an owner of a toy store, lives with his teenage daughter Carolina in
Kentucky. He is known as the Bike Man. Over the past five years, Mick has built
hundreds of bikes for needy kids.
One
day in 2012, a 13-year-old boy with a broken bike walked by Mick's house. "I
was working in my garage(车库); and he asked if I could
fix it," says Mick, now 53.
The
boy's bike had a broken wheel. Mick sent a post(帖子)
on Facebook, asking his friends if they had the needed part. One friend saw the
post and gave away two used bikes. Mick took parts from each to build a new set
of wheels for the boy.
Soon
after, Mick repaired a bike for the boy's brother and fixed one for his sister.
Word spread, and during the year, he had fixed up lots of bikes for local kids
whose parents were not able to afford new ones.
"People are throwing away bikes day and night," says Mick.
Mick
puts the bikes and bike parts in his garage. "I take off the good tires or
the handlebars or the seats and use them," he says.
Up to
now, the bike man has repaired hundreds of bikes and given away nearly 700
newly repaired bikes. They're free, but the kids must agree on two things: They
have to learn how to put waste things to good use and they have to try their
best to study in school.
If a
kid's grades are low, Mick requires a teacher's note "saying that you're
doing your best". Mick also hopes the bikes will get kids off the sofa. "When
I was growing up, we all rode our bikes," he says. "Hopefully these
kids can get some exercise."
