Secret Santa pays laybuys for families
A Nelson woman is spreading Christmas joy to deserving Nelson families by paying off their laybuys.
The woman, who wants to be anonymous, said she started paying off people’s laybuys four years ago after reading about someone doing it in the USA.
One of the bikes she helped paid off this Christmas was a girl’s bike originally brought in to be repaired.
‘‘The family couldn’t afford to pick it up, it had been there since March,’’ she said.
‘‘That little girl deserves her bike back.’’
She wanted to show children with ‘‘tough backgrounds’’ that the ‘‘world isn’t such a dark place’’, that there was hope and people that cared.
‘‘I know the parents must feel a bit heartbroken when they can’t buy the stuff they like or anything much and then I can’t imagine for a child to be in a family and get nothing.
‘‘And often they’re good kids and living in some situations that can be quite stressful for lots of reasons, so yeah I just think if you can give a kid some hope or a nice feeling they’re more likely to go on a good path.’’
Every year, she spends about $500 to help make Christmas a little less stressful for several Nelson families
She was under the impression that people who had a children’s bike on laybuy were ‘‘really trying’’ to pay it off.
‘‘They were probably almost there and it’s just a nice little bonus at the end.
‘‘It’s a really nice feeling, that something really small makes a big difference.’’
A cyclist herself, she said the idea of helping pay off a bike appealed to her more than toys, even though she did both.
‘‘A bike lasts much longer and it gives them something to do throughout the summer holidays and some exercise.’’
She said it was great to see disappointment turned into a happy occasion.
‘‘It’s that sense of we’re not alone, that we are a community really.’’
When her son was young he had saved up for a long time to get a bike, but when he was almost there his father stole the money and blew it in the pub. That stuck with her. This year she instead donated money to Crackerjack Toys to get toys for the charity Fifeshire Foundation and she also bought toys herself which she donated to the library.
The Crank House Nelson owner Glen Ogle said he had an ‘‘ overwhelming response’’ from customers who had their bikes paid off by the Secret Santa.
‘‘One lady just had a bereavement in the family and was scared that she wouldn’t be able to get the bike before Christmas and we rang her yesterday and said it had been paid off she broke down into tears.’’
He said he thought the woman’s initiative was ‘‘fantastic’’. ‘‘There’s so much hardship out there. ‘‘If you have a bike on laybuy and it’s at the end and you can’t seem to find that extra bit around Christmas, to get a phone call like that, it’s really amazing.’’
The Quiet Revolution Cycle Shop in Takaka also had an anonymous person come in to pay for people’s laybuys on bikes.