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Bikes for Tykes ; Stuart 'Bicycle Angel' Toils for Free in Quest to Get All Kids Bikes

Posted on: Wednesday, 15 March 2006, 03:03 CST

By SHARON WERNLUND Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Joe Dittiger's first bicycle marked a major victory as he was growing up in New Jersey during World War II. Money was tight, but somehow his father managed to scrape enough together to buy it for him.

And though his ride was used and worn, the overjoyed youngster proudly pedaled through the neighborhood with a new sense of freedom.

"Me and my brother both got a bicycle," said Dittiger, 71, of Stuart. "It meant a lot to us. At our age, that was like a Cadillac. Old Bike. Secondhand. It didn't matter."

Today Dittiger, a retired auto mechanic, has brought those same happy memories to more than 400 local children in his role as the "bicycle angel" of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Martin County.

The roots of his moniker started four or five years ago with an abandoned bike on the roadside. With no children of his own, Dittiger gave it a good bath and a good home with a grateful kid.

Since then, the retired Army corporal has been on a mission to see that every child in Martin County has a bicycle.

"I just kind of got into it with no idea of doing it," said Dittiger, who runs his one-man charity in swim trunks, bare feet and a red bandana.

His carport is no longer for cars but a year-round workshop where bikes are transformed from trash to treasure.

Plying the skills of his former trade, he cures whatever ails them with a little muscle, ingenuity and TLC.

He tightens brakes, greases chains and inflates tires to the hum of golden oldies on the radio.

The family's porch doubles as a storehouse for spare parts and tires. When space runs out - and it often does - there's storage under his manufactured home.

Once a bike is repaired, Dittiger climbs aboard for a test drive.

"I test them all - even that one," he said with a laugh, pointing to a tricycle.

Dittiger gets no money for his labor but is happy to spend his own on everything from brakes and reflectors to bicycle helmets.

The Village Bike Shop in Hobe Sound has become his close ally with regular discounts. "He's been coming in here for years and never said a word until we asked him," said owner Bryan Liles. "It's a great thing that he's doing for the kids."

The new Wal-Mart Supercenter in Stuart also has been a friend with a $550 check to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Martin County.

And though Dittiger lobbied for the contribution, he won't take a dime for his bikes.

"It's unbelievable what he's doing for our kids," said Danny Lyons, executive director of the clubs. "Joe gives so much away. There's a lot of love in those bikes. It's not just bolts, nuts and tires. "

In October 2004, Dittiger was named the clubs' Volunteer of the Month.

Such recognitions are appreciated but not important to Dittiger, who shuns public accolades. He never meets the children who benefit from his work.

Once a batch of bikes is ready, a truck from the Boys & Girls Clubs is dispatched to retrieve them for distribution with bicycle helmets.

His rewards are the hand-scrawled notes he gets from time to time.

"That's what makes it all worthwhile," Dittiger said. "Just knowing I made someone happy."

Not long ago, Dittiger brought smiles to a trio of children whose bicycles had been stolen.

Thrilled for their new wheels, they would have plenty to say to the big-hearted guy they know only as the "bicycle angel."

"I would say thanks for the bike because it makes me real happy," said Ronald Powell, 8, of Hobe Sound. "I like it and I like him for giving it to me."

"I love my bike very much," said Marian Karriel, 8, of Hobe Sound.

Says C. J. Williams, 11, of Hobe Sound, "He's not getting paid, just doing it on his own free will because he like kids. And that's pretty awesome."

Such gratitude fuels Dittiger to labor all year. Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne were kind to his home but Wilma destroyed his carport.

For several months he operated under a large umbrella before the structure was rebuilt this year.

"Whatever it takes," he said.

The bikes he recycles come from all kinds of sources. Friends and neighbors volunteer to pick them up. It's not unusual for him and his wife, Carol, to return home from dinner to find six bicycles in the carport.

Dittiger gets others from curbside trash heaps on garbage day.

A couple of years ago, he rescued several from someone's overgrown back yard.

"I got eight of them but it took me an hour a half to chop them out of the woods. The vines were growing completely out them."

And when his bike inventory gets low, Dittiger gets nervous.

Not long ago, he made a public appeal in local newspapers and got some surprising results.

One New Jersey man heard about him while visiting relatives in town. A French-made racer that he found in Sparta and brought with him on a Greyhound bus was contributed to the cause.

Dittiger's mission continues through good weather and bad; sickness and in health.

Despite a bad back, cataract surgery and a scary bout with prostate cancer, Dittiger has never closed up shop.

Even Carol, 68, who has had a quadruple bypass, is his loyal go- fer for bike parts.

"I've got a lot to be thankful for," Dittiger said. "If I go tomorrow, I have no regrets. I've done something that I think is pretty useful and helpful for kids. And it keeps me out of trouble."

To donate bicycles, parts and helmets, call the Boys & Girls Clubs of Martin County at (772) 545-1255 or Dittiger at (772) 485- 1467.

sharon_wernlund@pbpost.com

Source: Palm Beach Post

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