“We got some of the best looking Santas in the world and the ugliest Santas in the world to deliver a lot of gifts today,” said Keith “Elmo” Tickle, of Dayton, a member of the U.S. Veterans Motorcycle Club. The comment elicited some laughter from the crowd of a few dozen motorcyclists who came to drop off the presents together.
“All the bikers come together,” Tickle said. “We’re a very unified group. We love each other. We share the common thread of the steel horse that we ride.”
This is just one of the things they love to do in order to give back to the community, Tickle said.
In addition to giving gifts during the winter holidays, the coalition puts on an annual Easter egg hunt for children around Easter and they provide children with backpacks when it’s time to go back to school.
“We donate 300 backpacks full of school supplies for the kids to kind of get them ready to launch off into school,” Tickle said.
In addition to giving to children in Montgomery County, the coalition has expanded efforts to give back to children in Cincinnati.
In order to reach all of these children, the coalition has partnered with Walmart ever since they first asked a store associate for help in deciding what to buy seven years ago.
“They saw that Walmart was a part of their community,” said Jayna Hill, a Walmart academy coach.
Hill was among the first store associates to help the coalition pick out presents for children starting back in 2017.
“Seven years ago, two gentleman yelled, ‘Hey young lady,’ from across the store,” Hill said. The bikers then asked Hill, “Can you help us spend this money?” And then the rest took off from there, she said.
In the first year, the motorcyclists spent about $2,000 on gifts at Walmart and now are giving nearly $11,000 in gifts to children in Montgomery County.
“It’s just been a beautiful thing, for me, just to feel like I’ve been a part of this growth with them,” Hill said.
The Montgomery County commissioners and other county officials greeted the bikers on Sunday at the Haines Children’s Center in Dayton. After the bikers held a group prayer as a blessing over the gifts, the commissioners thanked the bikers for their support of Montgomery County children.
“You come through for our children, and we have more than 700 children in our care and your gifts of love at Easter time, before school and always at Christmas fills their hearts,” said Montgomery County Commissioner Carolyn Rice.
For those who want to support the coalition’s efforts or other nonprofits, Walmart customers can create an account on Walmart.com. Then through Walmart’s Spark Good program, shoppers can pick a nonprofit to support by rounding up to the next dollar each time they shop on Walmart.com with the difference going to the nonprofit of their choice. For more information, visit walmart.com/nonprofits.
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