However, thanks to San Leandro Police Officer Louie Brandt, some lucky kids will have a shiny, brand new bike under the Christmas tree. He raised $17,000 this year through the department's "Bike For Tykes" program to purchase 279 bikes.
"It just shows how generous everybody is and despite our economic times, everybody's pulling together helping out our kids and that's what makes it special," said Brandt.
Brandt's colleagues say he's pretty special. The officer single-handedly raised enough money to purchase three times more bikes than he did last year. The bicycles will be distributed by lottery to families who participate in a local food bank.
