(SPOT.ph) At some point in our lives, most of us have stopped believing in Santa Claus—but instead of letting the Christmas magic slowy die out, one Pinoy took the opposite route. Joey Belo has been dubbed "Santa on a bike" thanks to his love for cycling to far-off places and surprising children he finds on the streets with toys! You might have watched one of his vlogs from his YouTube channel Bike Camper JBelo and if you haven't, well trust us when we say it is some quality content.
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Belo started his vlog channel in July 2020—and with just 26 videos so far, he now has more than 250,000 subscribers. The huge number of subscribers can be chalked up to a chance encounter between the 59-year-old biker and 26-year-old Joseph Eliseo in Muntinlupa. The younger man was walking home from work when Belo handed him a flyer on his channel. They got to talking and Eliseo posted the biker's story on his social media—leading to a huge following for Belo and his advocacy.
Armed with a makeshift camper bike made of recycled scrap materials and a GoPro Hero 8, Belo bikes around Metro Manila for days on end. He documents his experiences meeting people and of course, spreading joy to the children he spots along the way. So far, he has biked all the way to Calamba, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal.
Behind his drive to bike around is a pretty tough childhood. "I was motivated to start this advocacy because I also once lived in the streets. Batang kalye din ako noon, at hindi ako madalas mag-stay sa bahay kasi maliit lang tirahan namin noon," shared Belo in a statement. His father was a newspaper delivery man as well, and it seemed apt that the biker follow his dad's ever-moving life.
Belo comes home to his family after each adventure with a boatload of film. His children in charge of filtering through his videos and creating the final one to upload to his channel. The channel has been a dream of the biker for a while now. "I want to post videos for my kids to watch because the posts stay there for a long time, parang legacy ko na," he explained.
Belo's content varies from videos of him interacting with children and spreading joy, to simple city views and random snippets as he rides along. What is always present is the hopeful nature of this Santa on a bike, as he does what he can to make the world a little better.
"Iba yung pakiramdam kapag nakita mo 'yong ngiti sa mga bata. Sa mga gusto na tumulong din, kahit in your own little ways, gawin mo. Kahit sa una walang susuporta sa'yo, 'wag ka matakot. Reach out to them and they will thank you endlessly," shares Belo in the statement.
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Source: Spot PH
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