It’s the gift many kids dream of for Christmas: A brand new bicycle.
For 110 needy children in San Diego, their Christmas wishes were granted extra early this year, not from Santa but by inmates.
Junior was one of the lucky kids getting a bike and helmet in a program put on by Donovan’s State Prison.
“I’m just happy and thankful for this bike I got for free,” said Junior.
The prison has been holding their annual bike giveaway for 24 years and the inmate volunteers say it’s still a good feeling giving back each year.
“We’re contributing to helping the kids out because we know we’ve done our wrongs in life but anything we can do to help the community so we can merge back in the community ourselves,” said Julian Sanese, inmate at Donovan’s State Prison.
The children walked around and each chose which bike they liked. The inmate volunteers helped get the kids on the bikes to test out.
The inmates refurbish donated and abandoned bicycles for the program and will already start planning for the next year tomorrow.
“This is a sense of killing time for them and to see the kids smile when they get their bike is tremendous," said Daniel Paramo, warden at Donovan’s State Prison. "They also go back and share their experience with the others in the institution that are unable to come out. It’s a win-win for everyone."
