JANESVILLE (WKOW) -- Everyone dreams of what life will be like when they retire. Some want to travel. Some want to just kick back and relax. One Janesville man headed for his garage. It makes Tom Hillebrand August's Jefferson Award recipient.
The Jefferson Award is given to people who go above and beyond volunteering in their community.
Tom Hillebrand knows a thing or two about bikes.
He's worked on them for years.
"Ask any kid when he gets his first bike and the whole world opens up," said Tom.
Tom fixed his five kids' bikes through the years.
"And, I tried to teach them how to build bikes and work on bikes and most of them do," said Tom.
And, when he retired a few years ago Tom started fixing even more.
"I was was picking up abandoned bikes, junked bikes," said Tom.
"To me it's fun to work on any bike," said Tom.
Tom doesn't fix old bikes to sell. He does it to give them away.
"This one here I'm hoping to get ready and send up to an Indian reservation up north that has a need for bikes," said Tom.
Tom started out giving bikes to local non-profits like the Salvation Army.
And then to random people on the street.
"I would walk up to them and hand them a bike because I could see that they were struggling to get to work or something like that," said Tom.
Tom spends about 30 hours a week in his garage. He's fixed up about 65 bikes this year already. He doesn't have to hunt too hard for bikes anymore, people bring him plenty
"I got enough to do," said Tom. "I don't need any more. If someone wants to take business from me."
Tom hopes others will follow in his footsteps.
"Think about what you can do and do it for other people and do it for free," said Tom. "You'll never be as highly paid as you will be if you do that, I'll tell you."
Now, Bob does sell a bike occasionally to buy parts he can't find.
