Central Point, Ore.– If you hear that roaring, it’s not Santa’s sleigh. But much like the jingling of bells, that roaring is the sign of something good to come.
In it’s 37th year the Southern Oregon Toy Run’s mission is to bring toys to children for the holidays.
Who takes part? Well… bikers.
“They’ll walk up. They tell ya ‘I love you brother’ and they’ll hug you,” said Mark Daley, one of the head organizers of the run. “Everybody is afraid and back up when they see these guys coming up. They’re not like that at all. The biggest baddest ones are the biggest teddy bears usually you know.”
And with that honest kindness comes enormous generosity. Hundreds of bikers gathered this year, each bringing toys for donation.
“It’s something that we believe in. We like the charity run for the children. It stays locally in the community,” said one of the other organizers, Art Lamensdorf. “We support the Children’s Miracle Network, the Boys and Girls Club, so it really stays in the community and that’s important to us.”
One rider brought her son out to ride with the rest of the family. She says it has been a personal experience for her.
“It’s hard. It kind of hurts when you can’t afford a Christmas for your kid,” said Kristi Whitehead. Her son, Brodie, joined her and the rest of their family this year to ride and donate toys. “We still somehow manage to bring toys to others and make sure every kid has a toy.”
That selflessness is one reason organizers of the Boys and Girls Club of America partnered with the run.
“They’re probably the most generous people I’ve ever met in my life,” said Renee Ludwig, special events director for the club. “I have not been in an event with them that they just haven’t given everything.”
For Mark Daley and the rest of the organizers, that’s exactly what they want to accomplish.
“You know I’ve done this since I was a kid. There’s no way we can let it fall apart,” he said. “We picked it up and from there we’re gonna keep running with it for as long as we can.”
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