FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — For the first time in 30 years, there will not be a Bicycle Man Giveaway. That’s because of concerns about spreading the coronavirus.

Ann Mathis, the CEO of the charity that puts on the event each year, says she made the decision to protect the community.

In 1990, her husband, Moses Mathis, started distributing bikes to children for Christmas. Every year since, as many as 1,200 bikes would be given away to children and their families. The event has become iconic for people in the area.

Moses Mathis died in 2013, but before his death, his wife promised to keep the Christmas giveaway going.

She says the risks of the pandemic and the chance that the bike giveaway would become a spreader event however, were just too much for it to take place this year.

Mathis says she is planning to hold the giveaway at a yet to be determined time in the spring of next year.

She also says it’s very likely that 2021 will witness two Bicycle Man Giveaways. One in the spring, and a second one in its traditional December slot close to Christmas.

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