Sometimes it can be easy to forget that not everyone can have a very merry Christmas.
Don’t expect that to be a problem for the Ghost Riders Motorcycle Club.
Members of the local group and Elizabethton Housing and Development Agency representatives were busy over the weekend at the Elizabethton Wal-Mart for the annual toy drive to benefit children from the EHDA.
A partnership spanning over 10 years, EHDA Executive Director Kelly Geagley said the organization approached him wanting to give back.
“The generosity of these fine ladies and gentlemen has provided a merry Christmas for the kids for several years,” Geagley told the Elizabethton Star.
Ghost Riders post up around the store the first two weekends of November and accept monetary donations or children’s items like toys and coats, to be used to benefit the EHDA for their annual Christmas party.
Seeing the smiles on the children’s faces make it all worthwhile, according to Ghost Riders member Sam “Sambo” Moffitt. During Sunday’s donation drive, Moffitt thanked the area for their continued support of the initiative.
“Every year, we get more support,” Sambo said. “It started off slow, as everything does. Now, we’re doing pretty good. The community has caught on to what’s going on, and that’s what has helped us the most. Plus, we get to meet everyone while we’re out here.”
2016 proved to be the biggest bounty for the group, raising roughly $10,000 worth of Christmas items for children. As of Sunday, the team was on pace to hit around $4,000.
“Our goal is to get around $10,000 again,” Moffitt said. “Any money that is accepted over these days does not go to us. We don’t get anything. We don’t want anything out of it. Just seeing the kids smile makes it worthwhile for us.”
“A lot of the children don’t have the chance to have a Christmas,” he continued. “I’ve seen it; we’ve all seen it. It’s set up a lot better now, but going house to house, it can tear you up, man. There are a lot of people in this community that won’t have a good Christmas. I know we’ve been able to provide Christmas to a lot of the children, and that’s only because of the people that have stopped by to show support.”
All items donated are provided to the EHDA around the first week of December. Any monetary donations accepted at Wal-Mart go directly to volunteers who go into the store to purchase items. Moffitt added the store provides a discount for the drive.
If any resident missed out on the weekend’s toy donation, there’s still an opportunity in the coming days.
Ghost Riders will set up at Wal-Mart Nov. 11-12 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Moffitt issued a challenge to other bikers in the area.
“To all the bikers out there, we’re asking you to donate just $1,” Sambo said. “We don’t care if they’re riding a bike out not. We know if we could get everyone that rides, we could hit our goal, easy.”