12-year-old uses money he earned mowing lawns to make bikes new again for needy children

Joshua Mosley has spent almost $200 on repairing old bicycles to give to the Salvation Army as Christmas presents. Mosley earned the money mowing lawns this summer. He has repaired numerous used bikes, like this one donated by Dolly Rankin, in his spare time in his own backyard. Ledger Staff Writer

Like a lot of kids, Joshua Mosley had a job this summer mowing lawns in the neighborhood. But he took the money he earned and is using it to help provide bicycles for underprivileged kids this Christmas.

“I started working on the first bike in about June,” the 12-year-old Gaffney homeschooler said. “I cut grass across the street all summer long and so far I think I’ve spent about $200 fixing the old bikes. It all really started when my bike broke earlier this year. I wanted to learn how to fix it myself because I wanted my bike back and I thought fixing it myself would be neat. My mom said she thought it would be good if I wasn’t the only kid to get a bike out of the deal, so I decided to fix bikes for other kids, too.”

Word got around that Josh was fixing the bicycles and soon people began donating old and broken ones to him.

“People started giving me bikes to fix,” Mosley said. “They were just dropping them off and I said well, why don’t I fix these bikes for charity and make Christmas presents out of them.”

Josh’s mother, Julie Hawk, helped get him in contact with the Cherokee County Department of Social Services for a list of kids to give the presents to, and they in turn suggested contacting the Salvation Army.

“DSS workers told us that the Salvation Army keeps a list of kids on hand who want specific presents for Christmas,” Hawk said. “This way we know we can give a bike to a child who really wants one.”

The experience in bicycle repair has given Josh a new understanding of what it takes to make one work.

“Well, I’ve worked on a 12-inch wheel, a 16-inch, an 18-inch, a 24-inch and a 26-inch bike,” he said. “Each one needed something different. I’ve been replacing wheels, replacing tires, getting new chains, getting new gears and replacing seats. It has taken a lot of work in some cases.”

At the moment, Josh estimates he has approximately seven bikes ready to give to the Salvation Army for Christmas, but he is constantly soliciting new donations.

“I need bikes, old bike parts, tires, chains - anything people can spare really,” Mosley said. “The hardest part to fix so far has been the seats. Well, really the seat posts. Almost every bike needs a new one and for some reason they all come in different shapes and sizes. I need to go to a sporting goods store and get some new seat posts.”

Josh would have had a much larger number of bikes to donate this year, but suffered a huge setback recently.

“We went to Ohio to see my sick grandfather,” Hawk said. “And when we got home from our trip someone had stolen all nine of the completed bikes he had been working on earlier this year. It was heartbreaking, but he picked up and kept right on working to get the seven we have now.”

Any bikes donated after Christmas, or ones that aren’t ready in time for the holidays will be kept for a wish list in conjunction with DSS Foster Care.

“When kids go into foster care, they usually aren’t allowed to take a lot with them,” Hawk said. “We plan on taking any extra bikes to keep for them after Christmas.”

Anyone wishing to donate bikes or parts is encouraged to call 461-4228.