Police Give 25 Lemon Grove Students New Bikes

Twenty-five deserving Lemon Grove students will have a little extra something to cheer for this holiday season, as they're presented with new bikes courtesy of the San Diego Sheriff's Department.

The event was scheduled for Tuesday at the Joan Kroc Center, and will benefit students in grade 5, 6, 7 and 8-- since local schools allow them to ride bikes to class, Jim Wieboldt, crime prevention specialist at the Lemon Grove Sheriff's Station, told Patch.

The bikes-- though like brand-new to the students-- are actually refurbished through a program run out of R.J. Donovan State Prison, in which inmates do the work, according to Wieboldt.

Wieboldt says they are usually bikes that the sheriff's department has found or gotten hold of through enforcement operations in which no owner has stepped forward.  Rather than sell those bicycles at police auctions, the sheriff's department hangs onto them for needy kids.

At Tuesday's event, each child was also given a brand new helmet to go with their bike.

Wieboldt says the school district chose the beneficiaries for the giveaway.