Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/763593
34 nJanuary 2017n www.thunderpress.net THUNDER PRESS by Don Kline LOMA LINDA, CALIF., NOV. 13—This annual run takes place at Totally Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, which is a facility for kids that are dependent on medical technology, special care and handling. Their basic needs are taken care of but what these kids really need is comfort items like toys, batteries, games, clothes and much more. Bikers, and that is what the kids call us, are the one who bring these items, although many people donate throughout the year. Baby clothes and related items need not be new but clean and serviceable. The run's offi cial meeting spot is the Chopper Place in Riverside to fuel up on coffee, juice and doughnuts and then pack up their donations and ride up to the campus in Loma Linda. Many other groups came from places like Orange County, Los Angeles and throughout Southern California. Many came solo or in small groups of two to three bikers, and I saw a variety of groups attending. Once at the campus and parked you can go inside, but before you do two nice nurses armed with temper- ature readers and markers check you out to make sure you are at normal operating temperature so you are safe to be around the kids. You can also go around and drop off your items if you want to. Inside the collection room there was coffee, both regular and decaf, orange and fruit juice and two big bins full of cold bottles of water, and a lot of people were getting water as the weather warmed up. There was plenty of time to add to the pile of donated things and make a monetary donation, which many people did. Outside there was a table with bags of popcorn and cotton candy. I saw two ladies, Jody and her daughter, Summer, making the pop- corn and Mom was handling the cotton candy. I spent a few minutes talking with them, and found out that Summer works at Totally Kids. I also saw many of the tables had handmade "biker" signs on them. Many of the furnishings, such as the benches and tables in the courtyard, were made possible by the donations of the bikers. Handling DJ duties for this event was Thomas Keyworth. Usually Paul and Janet Thomas of Just in Time DJ are here, but sadly we lost Paul last month; he was well known among the local biker community. The ceremony takes place out in the courtyard. Honda Ray (a.k.a. HR) clad in his top hat with a feather stepped up and started introducing people that run and support this event, among them Douglas Padgett, pres- ident and CEO. HR talked about what the donations do and how they help the kids, and he told the crowd that the High Tech fund got $2,000 with which they were able to get a television, projector and some baby monitors. DMC of the POBOBS MC came up and blew a duck call and HR shook the sleigh bells; this was in honor of Thomas Russo (a.k.a. Duck) who was a member of the POBOBS. He also played Santa for Totally Kids around Christmas time. Then there those wanting to come up make a donation in person, and among them were All-In MC with $2,000 and Chaparral Riders with $2,427.75. Spike, Doreen and Gil from Local 20 came up and talked about the events they have during the year to raise money. This year from vari- ous sources they donated $2,500. The grand total came in at around $12,500. After the ceremony many of the bikers headed out on their separate ways. This is simple run; it only takes a few hours on a Sunday morning. There are no run pins, T-shirts or prizes given out. But the biggest prize everyone gets is seeing a smile on one of the kids' faces and knowing you did something nice for them. Donations are accepted all year round: Totally Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, 1720 Mountain View Ave., Loma Linda, CA 92354, 909.796.6915. (www.totallykids.com) 4 26TH ANNUAL ONE MORE FROM THE HEART RUN Heartfelt and fun to boot One day of giving lasts a lifetime Riders arriving at Totally Kids Honda Ray addresses the assembled riders with DJ Thomas Keyworth manning the sound system Piles of donated items fl owed in to the Totally Kids Rehabilitation Hospital