After his wife died and the garage closed, he had struggled to keep his own apartment.

He lived in a legal temporary shelter some nights, but on days the shelter filled up, he sometimes slept near the unused pump house.

“He never asked us for money,” Toby said.

“We asked if he needed help.”

That first afternoon, the boys repaired two bikes.

They helped a mother named Denise load one into a car for her nine-year-old son.

They watched another father bring in a bent wheel because his daughter’s bicycle was the only reliable way she could reach her summer program.