SUNDAY TOY RUN BY MOTORCYCLISTS TO BENEFIT SAFE HOUSE FOR WOMEN

The rumble of motorcycles at Christmastime is music to Rebecca Payne's ears.

The pack of motorcyclists who will zoom through Cape Girardeau's streets Sunday afternoon will be bearing gifts for the children who will call Cape Girardeau's Safe House for Women home over the holidays.

"Most of the women and kids who come here really have very little," said Payne, executive director of the Safe House.

"When Christmastime comes around it's really tough on the kids.... A teddy bear or a fun game really helps them adapt a little."

Up to 100 riders are expected to ride in Sunday's annual Toy Run, which features motorcyclists from the Harley Owners Group (HOG), the Freedom of the Road Riders, the Gold Wing Club and the Christian Motorcycle Association.

They will start at West Park Mall at 1 p.m., drive east on William Street to Spanish, go north to Broadway and head west to the Elks Lodge on Thomas Drive.

Each rider will be transporting a toy and canned food to the Elks Lodge. "Last year we had a Toyota pickup full," said Brad Sample, director of the local HOG chapter.

Sample said the Safe House has been the beneficiary of the Toy Run the past two years because he personally is familiar with it. "I have dealt with that organization in the past and helped them move things."

"...With the Safe House, we felt confident everything would go where we wanted it to go," he said.

The toys will be given both to children who are staying at the house -- it has an occupancy of up to 16 -- and to children who are former residents, Payne said.

"Sometimes the residents who have left are struggling so deeply financially, it's nice to be able to give some to them to spread it around a little bit."

Domestic violence incidents typically increase at Christmas and the days afterward, Payne said. "Maybe it has to do with expectations that the holiday is going to be wonderful."

Both newborns and women in their 70s have found themselves at the Safe House in its three years of operation. Besides crisis intervention, group therapy and a peer support group, the house also has a children's program and a children's worker.

"Most kids, after growing up in a violent environment, have at least behavior disorders," Payne says.

The primary aim of the nonprofit corporation is to provide the women and children with a safe environment -- "a place where they don't feel like they have to be afraid," Payne says.

At Christmas, that's particularly important.

"If you can imagine being a little kid and not having Christmas, that's somewhat of a trauma, not to mention witnessing the violence in their own home," Payne says.

Since opening in November 1991, the Safe House has provided temporary shelter for 304 women and 341 children, registering a total of 11,338 bed nights.

In the past year, 117 women and 140 children have stayed.

To make donations of items or money to the Safe House for Women, phone the office at 335-7745 or the 24-hour hotline at 651-1614.