Salvage Santa is busy in his bike workshop

PANAMA CITY — Salvage Santa is at it again, painting, polishing and repairing donated bicycles to give needy children presents for Christmas.

This is Mike Jones’ 28th year of gathering new and used bicycles, new toys and books to donate to Early Education and Care and to those who have reached out to him for help.

“People give me these bikes. I paint them, put new tires, seats, tubes and pedals and handle grips on them,” Jones said. “I also check all the mechanical things and fix anything that needs it. People bring me brand new ones, too.”

Early Education and Care gives Jones a list of how many children in each age group need Christmas presents and not only does he work to fill those needs, the labor and toy donations help the agency receive more funding. For every $1 donated, whether in labor or items, Early Education and Care gets $4 worth of in-kind donation credit on grant audits for their programs, such as subsidized day care and Head Start programs.

The Salvage Santa tradition started after the Fuzzbowls between the Bay County Sheriff’s Office and the Panama City Police Department were causing too many injuries.

“When we had to quit, the Sheriff’s Department started their Project 25, raising money to buy clothes and toys for needy families at Christmas. I started Salvage Santa,” Jones said.

As a security officer for Sears & Roebuck Co. at the time, Jones noticed the returned bicycles and asked if he could repair them for people who needed them. During the first year, Jones said they helped about 25 to 50 children and the program has grown every year. He said Sears has continually helped through the years.

Jones normally has 200 to 300 children under age 5 for which the toys and books are donated and he works on the bikes for older kids. However, this year there are about 700 children in need just under the age of 5 and about 1,000 children total.

“I need toys for these kids. The bicycles are really for kids older than that, so we need board games, doll babies, new stuff. We’ve got 26 days left,” he said Wednesday.

He also said the most requested item for young children has been books. He is concentrating on getting bikes ready for the older children but said people can donate bikes or they can donate toys and books.

Though the needs grow every year, Jones says he doesn’t worry about having enough bikes and toys for the children.

“I don’t worry about it because God always provides and Bay County citizens, they made this program. I couldn’t do this if it weren’t for the people in Bay County,” Jones said.

Distribution will be a little bit different this year. In years past, giveaways had gone all the way through until Christmas, but he made a promise to his wife this year for a little more family time after the School Board shooting last year.

Distribution for Early Education and Care will happen Dec. 19 and 20 and the items on his list will be dispersed Dec. 21 and 22, all being done at Northside Baptist Church. Jones said he talked to his pastor about showing what Christmas is really supposed to be about and the church family wanted to help.

Jones’ efforts don’t stop after Christmas. He has given away about 100 bikes since last Christmas, helping families or raffles raising money to help others in need.

He has about 110 bikes already built and ready to go, about 150 to 200 new ones donated and hopes to have finished at least 40 more refurbished bikes before Christmas.

“We’ve got a good thing going. We take junk and turn it into treasures. ... That’s what this is all about,” Jones said.