David Nugent, 79, regularly holds giveaways outside his home on June Place in Brookville.
For Saturday’s giveaway, he will put out 300 to 400 bicycles that he refurbished for children and families to take home. The bikes tend to go quickly. Normally he begins the giveaways at 10 a.m., and he will run out by noon.
Nugent calls repairing and giving away the bicycles his “bicycle ministry.”
“If you can make some little kid happy, that’s worthwhile,” he said. “Me seeing the kids get this stuff is my Christmas present.”
Nugent said that he often sees kids on bicycles that he worked on riding them around Brookville.
He is well known for his giveaways, which attract children from across the area and beyond, including kids from as far away as the other side of Columbus, Indiana and Cincinnati.
Last year, Nugent said he gave away about 3,000 bikes, but this year figures he gave away twice that number. He said he started giving away bikes every month starting earlier this year. Though he was unable to hold one for September, he said that in August he had given away all 500 bicycles he had available.
Nugent said that he was slowed down some this year by the cold weather, but has a lot of bikes in storage to work on.
Eventually, though, he said that he would like to buy a building to give away more goods like appliances and clothing.
Nugent was nominated last year as a Dayton Daily News Community Gem for his bicycle giveaways.
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