T'is the Season to be Jolly, and nothing will make you more jolly then participating in a toy run on your motorcycle with hundreds of other generous bikers.  There are tens of thousands of kids out there who will not know the excitement of opening a new toy this Holiday Season without a little help from others. And who better to help than the motorcycle community, one of the most giving groups around. There are a variety of reasons why these children need our help; some come from poverty strickened families, some have no family at all, and others are spending their Holiday in the hospital, and for many of them it is one of many Holidays they will spend in the hospital. 

Yes these are tough times for many of us, but it doesn't take much to bring a smile to the face of these kids.  Nothing beats the excitement on a child's face when hundreds of leather-clad bikers show up with hundreds of toys! I have participated in many Toy Runs, and the enjoyment never wears off.  Whether you have participated in a toy run before, or this is your first year, here are a couple of tips to help you out.

Pick A Toy Run - Once you have picked a Toy Run to participate in, do a little research about who the toys will be for. Many times, runs will focus on a certain age group of children that are in need. Once you have identified the age range of the children, query whether this particular organization has any particular wants or needs requested. If not, go and have fun shopping! Keep in mind that stuffed animals are usually plentiful at these runs, think outside the box and find activity games, board games, action figures, video games, etc. Every year we do a couple runs to the local Children's Hospital. They actually request items that can be sanitized by wiping and stuffed animals are not the most desirable toy in that instance!

Getting ready for the Toy Run - Of course, make sure your bike is in excellent mechanical condition. Make sure all your riding gear is ready as well. Next you need to figure out how and where to carry your toy. After a few toy runs you will see some very creative people out there! Toys can obviously always be put in saddle bags, however if they do not fit there or you do not have them, you have a unique problem. I have see many people bungee toys to a luggage rack, front of the bike or even in the passenger seat. Whatever you do, make sure wherever you mount the toy, that it is secure and safe for you to operate your bike.

Remember why all the bikers are at that ride...it is for the kids! The kids truly love seeing all the bikes and the bikers. Being in the motorcycle community, I am proud to say I ride with some of the most kind and caring people in the world. Thank you bikers for all that you do...have a great time and ride safe!

With all those tubes and monitors hooked up, how often do you think this little guy gets to smile like that?

To find a Toy Run in your area, be sure to check our

MotorcycleEvent Calendar.

And if you are having a Toy Run, be sure to post it in our Calendar, or let us know about it, and we will post it for you!

October 8th, 2009

Glendale, Ca — Love Ride 26, slated for October 25, 2009, has been canceled. The announcement was made by Love Ride founder Oliver Shokouh, who cited the weak economy as the reason for the event’s cancellation.

In place of the usual event, Glendale Harley, Home of the Love Ride, is sponsoring an autograph session with Peter Fonda and free movie screening, commemorating the 40th Anniversary of Fonda’s starring role in “Easy Rider.” The event will take place at the dealership (3717 San Fernando Rd. in Glendale) Friday, October 23rd from 4-10pm. Glendale Harley will also be selling Love Ride memorabilia (Love Rides 1-26) on Saturday, October 24th from 9am-4pm and Sunday, October 25th from 6am-2pm. The hope is to recoup some of the costs already incurred this year by the Love Ride Foundation. The dealership will also have representatives on hand to answer any questions.

Donations to benefit our Love Ride beneficiaries are still being accepted and are tax deductible. The top ten fund-raising prizes featured in the Love Ride 26 brochure will still be awarded (excluding opportunity tickets).

If you have already registered for Love Ride 26, you will receive a Love Ride 26 ride pin and a Love Ride 26 patch. In addition, you will also receive a Love Ride 26 t-shirt. It’s our way of saying thank you for this year’s support. All incentive prizes will be available for pick-up at Glendale Harley on Saturday, October 24th and Sunday, October 25th.

For more information, please call our special hotline at 818-246-5618 ext. 141

Thank you.

 Story above from the Love Ride website: www.loveride.org/lr26/category/news/

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Economy stalls the Love Ride

The 26th running of annual motorcycle charity event has to be canceled due to lack of finances.

By Max Zimbert

GLENDALE — A lack of funds, not a lack of love, doomed what would have been the 26th annual Love Ride.

Organizers of one of the largest one-day motorcycle charity events in the world announced Thursday that it had been canceled due to poor ticket sales and other financial worries.

“The numbers were scary dismal to where we thought, ‘Gee, this thing is going to bomb,’” said Oliver Shokouh, Love Ride founder and the owner of Glendale Harley-Davidson, which organizes the ride.

Company officials canceled the event when pre-registration numbers were about one-third less than the event’s previously lowest turnout. The event typically raises more than $1 million, organizers said.

“I’ve talked to other people involved in charitable events, and typically they’re down on average by 50%, it seems like,” Shokouh said. “Charities have gone away from people’s hearts right now, and they’re really just fighting for survival.”

The Love Ride was started in 1984 as a fundraising event for the Muscular Dystrophy Assn. and had grown to benefit more than a dozen children’s charities.

A spokeswoman for the association said she was saddened by the cancellation, pointing out that funds raised by the Love Ride helped fund services and research for clients in the Los Angeles area.

“There’s no doubt that these are challenging times for [the association] and nonprofits alike,” said Roxan Triolo Olivas, national public relations manager for the association. “As a nonprofit we are accustomed to operating on a tight budget, and we will continue to work on new efforts to generate income.”

Instead of a ride that closes much of South Brand Boulevard, Shokouh arranged an autograph session with actor Peter Fonda and a free movie screening to commemorate the 40th anniversary of “Easy Rider.” The event is from 4 to 10 p.m. Oct. 23. Organizers will also sell Love Ride memorabilia at the dealership at 3717 San Fernando Road over the weekend.

“We’d rather try to hang on to what we have and cut our losses than lose it all and potentially more than we can afford,” Shokouh said, adding that the charity ride might return next year. “We’ll have to wait and see what happens to the state of the economy. We’ll see if we have the resources and energy and proper climate, but the vision’s always been great.”

Harley-Davidson laid off 1,100 workers in January, and motorcycle sales for 2009 were projected to drop about 40% compared with 2008, according to Dealernews, an industry publication.

Last year’s Love Ride attracted about 20,000 riders and culminated at the Fairplex in Pomona. The day of trade shows, exhibits, vendors and entertainment featured bikers from all over the U.S. An afternoon concert last year was headlined by ZZ Top and the Foo Fighters. Dwight Yoakam was slated to perform at this year’s event on Oct. 26.

Funding for the event comes mostly from Harley-Davidson of Glendale, with additional support from sponsorships. But backers were few and far between this year, Shokouh said.

“We’d cold-call a sponsor, some people would just laugh and hang up,” he said. “Even people we’ve had a relationship with in the past aren’t coming on board. It has been a really grueling experience.”

Glendale partnered with the event last year and marshaled about $29,000 worth of police and traffic control for about $14,000.

In September, the City Council approved $17,000 to co-sponsor the event, along with $2,000 to advertise the event.

“It’s really sad that such a great event is a victim of the economy,” said Philip Lanzafame, the city’s director of development services. “They’re holding a smaller event  . . . while it’s not the same grand scale we’ve come to know, the spirit of it is still there, of helping those who could use some help.”

Participants who had already registered will receive a Love Ride 26 pin, patch and T-shirt.

Donations to Love Ride charities are still being accepted and are tax deductible, organizers said.

Shokouh said he hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep the last few weeks.

“Nobody wanted to keep this going more than me,” Shokouh said. “Twenty-five years of my life, and the focus is to do the Love Ride every year. This year, we worked twice as hard . . . and it just wasn’t happening.”