For as long as he can remember, Daniel Zgela spent the lead up to Christmas watching his dad, Ivan, busily preparing for Wollongong's bikers toy run.
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As a founding member of the popular charity event, Ivan Zgela would work for months each year to hand out flyers, gather support and run raffles to make sure he could deliver toys to as many children as possible.
Sadly, the Warrawong grandfather died in May, leaving the 30th year of the toy run - where bikers ride toy-laden motorcycles through Wollongong - to go ahead without him.
"Dad would be so joyous today," Daniel Zgela said at the launch of Wollongong's Christmas gift appeal - which receives the biker's gifts.
"For me this is very emotional, it's great to see everyone here still being a part of it. I never think of my dad as some big person, but seeing this makes me so proud of what he did. For him, no kid was to go without."
Ivan's widow, Diana, said she was overwhelmed and honoured to see her husband's legacy continue.
"Ivan had a big heart, and he had so much more to give. He was looking forward to a few more toy runs.
- Diana Zgela.
"Ivan had a big heart, and he had so much more to give. He was looking forward to a few more years to spend with his granddaughter and a few more toy runs," she said.
"He'd be so sorry that he missed this, but he would be happy that this is still going and that there's a lot of good crew to work with and keep it going. He just loved kids and helping charities - he was always involved in something or other."
The toy run provides gifts to the Wollongong City Council Giving Tree, which got a motorcycle-style makeover this year in honour of Ivan Zgela's decades of work.
Inspired by the bikes Mr Zgela loved so much, sculptor Mike Tikkeros created a tree made of recycled motorcycle parts for the occasion.
It will be installed in the council building between now and Christmas.
Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery paid tribute to Mr Zgela's charity work and encouraged Wollongong residents to dig deep to donate to the giving tree.
"Ivan was a great community member who devoted himself to the Toy Run so that many children could still receive a toy at Christmas," Cr Bradbery said.
The Bikers Toy Run will be held on December 7 from 10.30am to 2pm incorporating a Bike Expo in Crown Street Mall.
Gifts for the giving tree, aimed at children from newborn to 16, can be left at council libraries and a number of other public places until December 17.
Gift giving locations:
- all Council branch libraries
- Council's Customer Service area 42 Burelli St, Wollongong
- Wests Illawarra, Hargreaves St, Unanderra
- Port Kembla Golf Club, Golf Place, Primbee
- Novotel Northbeach, Cliff Rd, North Wollongong
- Wollongong Central Customer Service Centre
- Figtree Grove and Warrawong Plaza Customer Service Centre Desks
- iHub Visitors Information Centre, 93 Crown Street
- The Central, UOW Innovation Campus. Squires Way, Fairy Meadow
- WAVE FM, 73 King St, Warrawong
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Kate McIlwain
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
