Secret donor marks birthday by giving bikes to kids
Generous donor has allowed Sun Youth to distribute more than 1,500 bicycles
Every spring, bundles of letters and emails are delivered to Bob Sauvé’s home in Montreal. Before the retired police commander reads them, he makes sure there’s a box of tissues close by.
The letters are from social workers, teachers, parents and new immigrants who have nominated a child or teenager they believe is worthy of one of the bicycles the Sun Youth Organization distributes every year. Thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor, called Mr. Bike Man, Sun Youth has distributed more than 1,500 bikes since 1985.
As president of the bike program’s selection committee, Sauvé knows firsthand the difference Mr. Bike Man’s $20,000 annual donation makes in the lives of bike recipients.
“There are some heartbreakers,” said Sauvé, who often gets choked up when discussing the letters. “There are many kids facing numerous obstacles.”
A few years ago, a grandmother requested a bicycle for her grandson but asked if the bike could be kept at her house because her grandson’s father sold the boy’s previous bike to buy booze.
After receiving a letter from a mother saying her daughter loved cycling but was losing her eyesight, Sun Youth gave her a bicycle built for two.
Another teenager said he wanted to be a member of a circus act, so he was given a unicycle, and a 16-yearold from St-Hubert was rewarded with a new bike for his numerous fundraising initiatives.
Despite being involved with the program for years, Sauvé has never met Mr. Bike Man because the anonymous benefactor jealously guards his privacy. But if Sauvé ever does meet him, he will tell him his “gesture is unbelievable.”
“Most good people who do these good deeds want to remain anonymous,” said Sauvé, who was made president of the committee after retiring from the police force in 2003. “They don’t do it for the spotlight.”
Back in 1985, the successful Montreal businessman called up the Sun Youth Organization with a novel idea to celebrate his 60th birthday.
To mark his birthday each year, he would pay for dozens of bicycles that would be given to young Montrealers who have performed good deeds in their community or who are disadvantaged.
“At 60, I don’t need a Rembrandt, I need people to be happy,” the donor told Sid Stevens, a Sun Youth executive. “He said life had been good to him and he wanted to give back.”
As a youngster growing up in Montreal, Mr. Bike Man said his parents were too poor to buy him his own bike. But after he “screamed and yelled” for ages, his parents scraped together enough money to purchase a red Raleigh. He was so proud of his first bicycle that he cleaned the spokes with toothpicks to keep them shiny.
“We cycled all summer, that’s what we did,” Mr. Bike Man said in a telephone interview.
On Wednesday, Sun Youth will distribute 83 bicycles, helmets and locks to deserving youngsters to mark Mr. Bike Man’s 92nd birthday.
But the anonymous donor, who has shunned the spotlight for decades, won’t be there to celebrate. He skips the ceremony every year because he doesn’t want anyone to recognize him. Instead, he reads about the ceremony in the newspaper and watches the television reports that Sun Youth officials record and send to his home. “It gives me pleasure to see kids get a bike out of the blue,” he said.
All these years later, Stevens said he is amazed at Mr. Bike Man’s generosity and not surprised that he stays out of the spotlight.
“He said the purpose of giving is from the unknown to the unknown,” Stevens said. “He believes in the joy of giving and hopes that other people will pick up on his idea.”
Mr. Bike Man said he still remembers the first year Sun Youth gave away 50 bicycles, and he sometimes wonders what became of the 50 recipients. “I would like to find out what happened to some of those people,” he said. “Did it influence them?”
After a five-year-old child almost drowned at the beach in Parc Jean Drapeau in 2013, Mr. Bike Man donated life jackets to Sun Youth to ensure children are safe in swimming pools or at the beach as they learn to swim.
“Whenever he sees something in the newspaper, he calls and asks if the family or someone needs help,” Stevens said.
For his part, Mr. Bike Man said he continues to give to Sun Youth because “when you have a lot, you should give back. There are a lot of people who feel that way,” he said.
He also said he hopes his generosity inspires other people to contribute to their communities.
“I hope people know that when they get old, they don’t need it (money), and they should give it away.”