ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
The Christmas season might still be a couple months away, but a pair of local groups came together Saturday to begin making this year’s holidays a little brighter for some area families.
The Harbingers Motorcycle Club and Knights of Columbus teamed up for this year’s Toys For Tots run, and as coordinators tell it, the day could not have gone better.
“I think we did really well. We had about 24 motorcycles involved, and all of them brought toys, which was great. We've had better years and worse years, but with everything going on right now, I was really happy with how things turned out because it's all for a good cause and helping some children get toys at Christmas who might not otherwise get them,” Knight Chuck Lamberson said. “I'm really happy with how everything's gone, we've been going around to local businesses for sponsorships and door prizes and things like that, and I can't thank those sponsors enough for the help they provided. I also have to give credit to my brother Knights, they've all put in a bunch of hard work selling raffle tickets and talking this up and everything else.”
“I thought everything went really well, we had a great group of riders and a lot of toys to give that day. I would have liked to see more riders participate, but even if we'd had 50 I would probably say that wasn't enough,” Harbingers Motorcycle Club member James Starkey said with a laugh. “But with this being the first year of us coordinating with the Knights of Columbus, I thought everything went really well and I felt like everyone ended up having a good time. The ride was great and then afterward was the chili feed at the Knights of Columbus building and prize raffles and everything else, and most of us had wives and children who came out to that. It was just a good and enjoyable time, and for us doing the Toys For Tots run for the first time, I was really happy with everything. And in terms of the weather, we couldn't have asked for a better day – it was a little cool in the morning, but we also took off before noon, so we'd kind of expected that to an extent, and it was a great ride. We had people come in from Ulysses and Hugoton and other area towns, and we all agreed afterward we couldn't have asked for a better day for a ride.”
Donations will be taken for this year’s Toys For Tots until the first week of December, and Lamberson and Starkey said they hope to see a lot of donations.
“If anyone wants to make a toy donation or monetary donation, they can contact me at (620) 655-8435 and I'll be happy to talk to them and make any necessary arrangements to accept whatever donation they're making, every bit is appreciated,” Lamberson said. “In the coming weeks, we'll see how much money we have and go do some toy shopping, and then early in December is when we'll sort everything and wait for all the applications to come in. We'll be delivering the toys Dec. 13, but we'll take donations really at any time because we can roll things over into the future.”
“I hope more people donate toys or money toward this, because it really is a good cause. There are a lot of underprivileged families struggling, and something like this could be the difference between a child having a Christmas or having no Christmas at all,” Starkey added. “I know everyone has their own lives and struggles going on, but I really hope people will find some way to support this and help out a family so they can actually have a Christmas and bring a little light.”
Toys For Tots applications can be found at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church at 1510 N. Calhoun Ave. and the Seward County Health Department at 1411 W. 15th Street, and applications will be accepted until the first week of December. Only one application per family can be filled out.
Overall, Lamberson and Starkey agreed, Saturday was a very good day for both groups.
“The main thing is the number of toys and the amount of participation we've already seen from the community, all of which is greatly appreciated,” Lamberson said. “I know stores get these types of requests all the time, but I can't say thanks enough to all the local businesses that have agreed to be sponsors and donated door prizes or whatever they've done for this. I'm really happy with how everything ended up Saturday. We've been doing this for 30-plus years now, and we plan on continuing and being successful with this in the future.”
“I'm really happy with how Saturday turned out. Being part of this was a bit of short notice because the Knights only got in touch with us a short time ago about working with them, and then there were some of the logistics to figure out and flyers/info to get out to the public, but I'm overall really happy with how things came together,” Starkey added. “If we work together on this next year, I'm hoping we can start getting the logistics and all of that together earlier and start spreading the word earlier so we can have even bigger turnout and get more donations. But with all of that, I thought everything came together really well, and I really have no complaints with how everything turned out Saturday. I also did tell the Knights of Columbus we'd be more than happy to work together with them again and make it a yearly event for us. I know they've tried doing their own thing throughout the years with the Harley group, but I honestly wouldn't mind picking up the mantle and doing this year after year. I want to thank the Knights of Columbus for reaching out to us and entrusting us with this event because they've been at this for a long time. I'm really happy we were able to work with them and get as big a turnout as we did, and I want to thank all the motorcyclists who came out and participated and donated toys to a really good cause.”
