Oscar had recently been victim of a bike theft for the second time within a six-month period. When the burglars came to his house, his sister’s bike was also taken.
Harold Sheppard, as part of the Campaspe Valley Masonic Lodge, organised for the group to pay for a new bike for Oscar.
“We thought we know the lad, we know how hard working he is, let’s do something and we’ll spend a couple of hundred buck and buy him a bike,” he said.
Mr Sheppard said that after speaking to the treasurer and emailing the group about the idea they contacted Ash Cycles who helped by providing a bike at a discounted price.
Ready to go: Oscar Jackson was thankful for the community support after having two bikes stolen in six months.
Mr Sheppard said the donation was a surprise to Oscar, who turned up at Ash Hall’s on Saturday unaware that he would be getting a new bike.
“I said we’re buying you a bike and he said ‘are you for real’ and I said ‘yes’. He couldn’t believe it,” he said.
“When we handed the bike over on Tuesday night his mum and dad couldn’t believe it. It was wonderful all round.”
Mr Sheppard said it was particularly generous of Ash Hall to be able to help as they’ve had more than $150,000 worth of bikes stolen in the past 12 months.
Oscar said he was very thankful for the donation and thanked the Campaspe Valley Masonic Lodge for its generosity.
“It was really, really nice and I was really happy,” he said.
“I really appreciate it, all the support and stuff and helping me get a new bike and people helping me.”
He said there had been a lot of community support after hearing his story with several offers of second-hand bikes.
Now that he has his own bike, Oscar plans to use the money that was donated to the GoFundMe drive to replace his sister’s bike which was stolen.