B.C. 87-year-old fixes, donates hundreds of bikes to kids for Christmas

BURNABY, B.C. -

Although Dennis Baker has always been good with his hands, he didn’t realize how much good he could do with them until after a train door cut his finger off.

“The door closed, and the latch got caught on my finger, and it was gone,” Dennis says holding up his hand and stretching out his three remaining fingers. “And wow did it ever hurt!”

But rather than complain about it, Dennis proved to be the sort of person who makes comedy out of it.

“I have a lot of fun with it,” Dennis bursts into laughter after placing the stub of the missing finger up to his nostril to make it look like he’s deeply picking his nose.

Although, Dennis wasn’t laughing when he started noticing broken bikes being discarded in the neighbourhood.

“I was mad,” Dennis says.

After confirming the broken bikes were left behind by families who had moved away, the senior began collecting them and figuring out how to fix them.

“I didn’t know a bicycle from a motorcycle,” Dennis smiles. “But through trial and error I learned, and now there’s not many things I can’t repair on a bicycle.”

That first year, Dennis refurbished six bikes for fun.

“And I thought, ‘I might as well do something with them,” Dennis recalls. “So I did.”

Dennis donated them to his local Christmas Bureau, in support of families in need over the holidays.

“I was amazed,” Christmas Bureau executive director Chris Bayliss says.

And Dennis was so inspired, he kept finding, fixing, and donating more and more bikes every year.

“It felt great,” Dennis smiles. “Because I was doing something good for someone else.”

Now, the 87-year-old spends six hours every day finding and refurbishing more than 130 bikes a year for kids in need.

“Dennis Baker is a legend,” Chris smiles. “In spite of sometimes ill health and all the other things that come with aging and being a busy person, he just finds time to do it every year."

Although Dennis has never seen one of the smiles inspired by the more than 1,000 bikes he’s gifted over 20 years, he’s told they’re big.

“You thought I’d given him a brand-new Cadillac,” Dennis recalls being told about one boy who received a bike after fleeing from the war in Ukraine. “He was over-the-moon thrilled with his bicycle. And that’s what it’s all about.”

Like the way he responded to losing his finger, Dennis says it’s about making bad things better. And when it comes to helping others, making them the best.