By Don Urquhart, Times Chronicle
Osoyoos and Oliver have their very own Santa Claus this Christmas and while he’s bereft of the red suit, missing a beard, and it’s doubtful his belly shakes like a bowl full of jelly when he laughs, there can be no doubt he has Santa’s heart of gold.
For Osoyoos resident Bryan Miles it’s not simply a story of his heartfelt giving to the local communities by fixing up and giving bikes away free of charge, but it’s also the story of the incredible generosity of these very communities.
That generosity has come in the form of donated bikes – many worth hundreds and even over $1,000 – parts, cash, tire repair kits ordered online and delivered to his house, and even offers of administrative help which he desperately needs given the constant stream of social media messages to sort through with a cellphone on the blink.
Speaking to Miles, 10 short days away from Christmas, the tally of bicycles that he has fixed, cleaned, polished and most importantly, put in the hands of grateful grandparents, parents, and children, numbers in the 70-something range.
“People donate the bikes and then I fix them up and clean them up to the point they could put them under the tree as if Santa gave them. I try my best to clean them up if it means painting them or sanding them or putting new brakes, new chains, or whatever so they look like they’ve just come off the shelf.”
He relates a story from just a day earlier when he delivered two bikes to a grandmother for her two granddaughters.
“They don’t have much this year,” he relates, “and she was just overwhelmed with tears. You don’t want to see somebody crying, but these were tears of joy,” he says, clearly humbled by the experience.
When he first started he reckoned he would distribute 50 bikes out for Christmas to those in need. And when he says “in need” he means anybody – with means or without – who desires a bike. Now he says it’s most likely going to be more than 100 bikes by Christmas. And he added that if he has to stay up until 2 or 3 a.m. on Christmas Eve, he’ll do it.
On the day that the Times Chronicle visited his home, there were bikes in the driveway, bikes in the living room, bikes in the hallway, and even bikes in the kitchen. And of course spare parts here, there, and everywhere. One suspects his partner Kathy is beginning to experience waning patience. But she beams a smile nonetheless and says, “when Bryan does something, he does it all the way.”
“Some people have a tough time receiving, but I try to get across to them that it’s not just me giving out the bikes, it’s the community coming together for a common purpose. People are very thankful. The amount of comments I’ve gotten on Facebook is incredible, and I have a hard time receiving that affirmation sometimes, it’s not always easy,” he reveals.
But all he wants is for people to just step up and tell him if they want a bike – rich or poor, it makes no difference to him. He also doesn’t want to dampen the business of the local bike shop. In fact, Double O Bikes has also helped out with spare parts and repair advice.
The impetus for all this started about mid-October, he says. “I was outside doing some work in the yard and I saw four kids riding bikes, and one was running behind with a backpack and I’m wondering why he doesn’t have a bike.”
He partly answers his question: “Everybody goes through different situations family-wise and financially.”
His desire to help his community was given a jump about the same time when a good friend gifted him 15 bikes. “I just got the idea that I needed to do something to keep my mind straight,” he said.
Miles had at the time just recently lost both his mom and his best friend in the same whisper of time, events that despite substantial experience in the ups and downs of life, still threw him.
Sitting around and doing nothing was not an option, he says. “In my life so many people have helped me in the seasons of my life when things were difficult. So I’ve always had it in my heart to give back.”
And that first set of bikes also gave him another idea – bikes for Christmas. “December is a difficult time for many people and we’re already in tough times as it is,” he says.
“December can be a very, very stressful time for families because of the necessity of feeling like they need to buy gifts. We live in a culture where materialistic stuff is a huge thing which I don’t like. I used to think that way, I was all about money but now I could give everything away and not even worry.”
He cites the example of kids going back to school after Christmas. “Everybody wants to talk about what they got for Christmas, and there’s always gonna be that one child whose family, for whatever reason, wasn’t able to get very much and because of that they kind of have their head down.”
He aims to help those children “so they wouldn’t have to walk with their head down, not being able to share what they got for Christmas – that’s really where my heart is at,” he confides.
Don Urquhart photo
Currently, Miles isn’t working as he’s dealing with his mom’s estate. “Financially, I can’t do this forever,” he says, but for December he decided he could manage and put his time into the project. “So come January I have to go back to work and get things going again and maybe I will just continue to do this on weekends,” he said.
Bike repair was something he’s only just picked up. He has his own catering business that was flattened by the pandemic. “I think I lost 10 weddings that first summer after Covid hit and it’s something I haven’t completely gotten back into but that’s my passion,” he says.
Miles was fortunate enough to train under Bruno Marti, the Canadian Culinary Team captain for nearly two decades, previously working in Marti’s La Belle Auberge restaurant in Ladner.
His Osoyoos catering also includes in-home dinners where he creates artistic gourmet five-course dinners for parties of around 10 people.“That’s where my passions are at, my passion is not to build bikes!” he laughs.
Miles says his passion, aside from the culinary arts, is spreading love. “The greatest message I ever want to say is the fact that when we give of ourselves there’s a tremendous joy that comes in it, it’s like a healing in our life.”
He’s very happy with how the project has progressed, more so because of the greater community involvement that it spawned. “When people start to see other people giving, I think it just kinda escalates,” he says.
Don Urquhart photo
