Left, School Board Vice President Angel Faxon (left) with Dave Suchon and Superintendent Attila Weninger. (City-Times photo)

By Donnelly Clare

The owner of Dave’s Body Shop in Stevens Point has been playing Santa’s elf for years.

Dave Suchon, along with wife Donna, have been donating brand new bicycles to school children and other community members for over 20 years.  During a recognition ceremony last week at Bliss Education Center, Suchon shrugged off the accolades as “just trying to help out.”

Suchon said an area elementary school principal called him recently to ask if he’d be willing to donate bicycles to a pair of brothers whose family had never given him a present.

“We donated two bikes to Jefferson (Elementary School)- the principal called me up and said they had a student who was a really smart kid, but he never got Christmas or birthday presents. They asked if it’d be okay if we could donate to him and his brother. I said, ‘go ahead and donate them to whoever you want’. It’s kind of hard to believe the parents never gave the kid a present. So maybe this could change his life around.”

Superintendent Attila Weninger and School Board Vice President Angel Faxon presented Suchon, along with wife Donna, with a plaque thanking them for their work.

“We estimate Dave has donated hundreds- maybe over a thousand- bicycles to our students and to the community, and he’s also donated bicycles to the cadet recognition program in the past as well. We felt it important to recognize Dave and Donna,” Weninger said. “He does this without any fanfare. He’s very, very laser- focused on making sure than kids get bicycles.”

“We give away 80-90 bikes a year,” Suchon said. “People give me old bikes, I tell them to keep them because it’s cheaper to buy a new bike than to fix an old one up. We just bought 20 bikes on Saturday. I figure this could be a nice way to help the kids maybe focus on their school work and other stuff better because they don’t have to worry about having a bike anymore.”