In the close town of Whitesburg, Kentucky, Mick Polly, who lives with his teenage daughter Carolina in a house, is known as the bike man. Over the past five years, Mick has 1 hundreds of bicycles for poor kids.
One day in 2011, a 13-year-old boy with a 2 bike walked by Mick's house. "I was working in my garage, and he asked if I could 3 it," says Mick, now 53. The boy 4 his bike, which had a broken bracket, with Mick, who asked friends on Facebook if they had the missing part. The town's former police chief saw the 5 and donated two used bicycles. Mick took parts from each to engineer a new set of wheels for the 6.
Soon after, Mick, who 7 a toy business, repaired a bike for the boy's brother and made one for his sister. 8 spread, and within the year, he had fixed up dozens of bikes for 9 kids whose parents couldn't 10 to buy new ones.
"People were 11 bikes day and night," says Mick. Mick stored the bikes and bike parts in his garage. "I take off the 12 tires or the handlebars or the seats and 13 them," he says.
To date, the bike man has repaired hundreds of bikes and 14 nearly 700 newly built bikes. They're 15, but the kids must agree to two things: They've got to "remember who's 16 them'', and they've got to make 17 in school. If a kid's grades are 18, Mick requires a teacher's note saying that he is doing his best.
Mick also hopes the bikes will get kids off the 19. "When I was growing up, we all rode our bikes," he says," 20 these kids can get some exercise."
