On Saturday, a couple of hundred Lawrence County children will get a great gift — a shiny new bike.

That is thanks to John Dickess, owner of Dickess Auto Repair, and Don Schwartz, manager of Advance Auto Parts in Ironton.

For more than a decade, the two men have quietly asked the citizens of Lawrence County to contribute to their drive to get needy kids a new bike as their “big gift.”

Dickess has turned his nostalgia of fixing bikes as a kid into helping ensure that children have something fun to do in the outdoors, something to get them off the computer and out in the real world having some fun and getting some exercise.

This is a great thing for the children and we thank Dickess and Schwartz for their hard work of setting up such a great event and to all those who contribute their money and time to such a worthy cause.