The man who helps buy children bikes now in need himself

By Andrew Dys - adys@heraldonline.com

EDGEMOOR -- For five years, Chris Hoskins has raised money for kids to get Christmas bicycles. Not his kids, but someone else's. Kids in Chester, York and Rock Hill, kids in Great Falls and Fort Lawn and places so small and rural there is no town.

They are kids who maybe don't have any other chance at a bike. Kids who live in shelters, or in places that house the abused and neglected. Kids who have every reason to believe Santa Claus does not exist, but who find out through a donation of a bicycle that Christmas is true.

“I just thought it was a good idea, and so did my family,” said Hoskins, who owns and operates the Edgemoor Auction Barn. “We wanted to help kids. Nothing fancy about it. Just help. A kid needs a bike. Every kid should have a bike.”

At Saturday night sales at the auction throughout the years, the family sold chicken and hamburgers. They canned and sold chow-chow. One of the sons, William, sold candy. Nickels and dimes and quarters and dollars, the money trickled in.

Last year, Hoskins bought 140 bicycles. He buys them direct from the Huffy factory in Indiana, to save a few bucks then usually pays for shipping back to Edgemoor for giving away.

He gave the bikes out to a few churches and area police departments, because those groups know the kids in need. Through nothing but the fundraising, donations from his customers and employees and from deep in his own pocket in the past five years, Hoskins has collected enough money for 550 bicycles.

The workers in the police departments know the kids out there who come from struggling families. They see the parents or the kids. They have seen the difference a single bicycle makes. Chester County Sheriff Richard Smith, the former chief of Fort Lawn police, has given out the Hoskins bikes and seen the instant change in kids who had no hope for Christmas. Other police departments get bikes, too.

“Most times, we give the bikes to parents that we have met who don't have a single gift to give their child for Christmas,” Tan Barber of the Rock Hill Police Department said. “I have seen parents cry and thank us for the bicycle. Then they have something to give to a son or daughter.”

But the rotten economy that has hurt so many people and benefited few is all too real to Hoskins. Donations for bicycles are down this year. He doesn't know how many bikes he can buy.

“A kid who doesn't get anything else for Christmas, we always figured that a bike was the best gift ever,” Hoskins said. “One way or another, I will make up the difference. If I have to pay for bikes myself, I will do it.”

Hoskins offered free advertising space at his auction barn for those who donated and even asked for help this year from the business community — something he never did before.

Bob Blake, the manager of Haddon House food distributors in Richburg, heard about the bike drive. Blake offered up one of his trucks that will be coming back from a haul. The truck will stop in Indiana and bring the bikes back to Chester County for free.

“It made sense to help a great cause,” Blake said. “Here is a guy going out of his way to help kids.”

That truck saves Hoskins a big chunk of change because he doesn't have to pay for shipping. But he still is behind on the money raising. For Tan Barber at the Rock Hill police department, fewer donations mean fewer bikes. And that will mean fewer smiles for kids who might not get another smile.

“I have seen kids get these bicycles,” Barber said. “You never forget the look on the kids' faces. I would hate for it to go away.”