From growing up on a double-decker bus to contributing upwards of $6000 of his own money each year to various self-driven charity drives, Hay-based shearer Lionel Garner will never forget where he came from.
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For the past 20 years Mr Garner has been running various drives, including his annual Christmas drive for children, five years and under, from struggling families.
This will be the drive's 21st year and thanks to the generosity of the team at Big W Wagga, Mr Garner will be able to step it up a gear by gifting 10 brand new push bikes to 10 winning children from Hay along with his traditional Christmas stockings worth $150.
A lot of people forget where they came from, I will never forget where I came from
- Lionel Garner
Big W Wagga store manager Chris Flanigan said the decision to donate the bikes came easily.
"Lionel's been doing this for as long as I can remember," Mr Flanigan said.
"He does a lot of great work so we made that decision to chip in and help- with COVID, bikes are hard to get.
"It's been a tough couple of years, so anything we can do for each other is great."
Mr Garner was blown away by the generosity.
"This is my first donation ever," he said.
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"I was in the store looking at the bikes because I knew I wanted to get bikes this year in celebration of 21-years and I happened to mention that to Chris.
"When I rang up about the bikes later on one of the girls said to me not to worry about it, Chris has decided to donate them to you.
"It was emotional. I think the biggest thing is that- I don't come from Wagga, I have a son and a daughter who live and work here, but I only come here to shop.
"I grew up on a double-decker bus- girls on the top and boys on the bottom."
While Mr Garner always had the necessities, his parents struggled when it came to presents.
"A lot of people forget where they came from, I will never forget where I came from," he said.
Mr Garner said they push the message that the gifts are from the children's parents.
"We do it about a week before Christmas. We ask that the parents or a guardian call up and then we will have a draw at one of the shops in Hay," he said.
"This year we will be giving away 10 bikes to children under five years from Hay. We have five girl's bikes and five boy's bikes."
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