MOTORCYCLE GROUP TO SPONSOR TOYS FOR TOTS RIDE

The area chapter of Freedom of Road Riders Inc. will hold a "Toys for Tots" ride Sunday.

Motorcycle riders will travel from Cape Girardeau to Jackson and back again. The ride begins at 1 p.m. at Eagles Aerie Lodge at 321 N. Spring.

Admission to the ride is one new toy and a can of food, said Mike Hellman of Cape Girardeau, trustee for Local 16 of the statewide group. "Of course, we are inviting anyone who would like to ride," he added.

The local chapter has over 100 members in Cape Girardeau, Perryville, Ste. Genevieve and Mississippi counties.

The toys and canned goods will be distributed for Christmas by the Eagles Lodge, Hellman said.

The motorcycle group has been holdings its "Toys for Tots' ride for several years, he said.

About 70 or 80 toys and a similar number of canned goods were collected at last year's ride.

Hellman said Freedom of Road Riders Inc. sponsors the "Toys for Tots" ride statewide. But he said most of the chapters conducted their rides earlier this month.

"We recognize there is a definite need and the guys who have these kinds of caliber of motorcycles generally can afford to give," Hellman said.

"We are always trying to improve the image of motorcyclists," he said. "It's hard for some people to understand that those guys in leather and with big bikes are responsible citizens."