A Toys for Tots Run is a gathering of bikers usually held right before Christmas. The bikers get together at one side of town and ride their motorcycles in a pack on the main street all the way through it. The local police cut off normal traffic because every biker is carrying some toy to donate at the end of line gathering. That way just about every family in their area will have something to give their kids for Christmas.

This was introduced to me in 1981 while I was stationed in Hawaii. It was a lot of fun to ride side by side all the way through Honolulu. That hit so because the traffic there was normally so heavy one had to cut through it on your, wild biker, own. We wild bikers could enjoy giving away a gift as we showed off to the rest of the people living there. You just had to be able to cruise your ride real slow so the pack never broke up. The slow speed didn’t matter because who cared how long it took while they were able to take up the whole street.

That first run didn’t turn out to be a plain charity. Back then when a bunch of bikers got together they could do all kinds of wild things. We could even have our old-ladies hold a topless contest. Right after turning in some toy it became time to party down and celebrate Christmas as it applied to us. The major good point in a gathering like this was that the toys were made available to the needy. One usually wouldn’t believe guys hoping for some new motorcycle parts would spend any money on something else.

That bit of Christmas celebration was also taking place in Albuquerque. When I got back home it was understood what might happen before Christmas. That allowed me to promptly hit the first Toys for Tots Run available. It’s just that the Albuquerque population frowned upon it. None of them would grin like the folk in Honolulu had. The Albuquerque police department didn’t want to show us any favor. They just hardly put any officers out to cut the traffic off for us. We could only make the run eastward partially up on Central.

It’s mostly that Albuquerque wasn’t as large a city as Honolulu and Central wasn’t all that wide. We also couldn’t make as long a run through it. The party had to be held in a small park right against a gulf course on the east side of town. In Albuquerque wild bikers were considered to be outlaws so the donation had to be picked up by a troop of guys from the New Mexico Reserve. No true charity there wanted be caught amongst us.

The lack of any ability to really show off as we rode up Central might have helped us party harder. Who knows if it was that or just a wild personality? Most of us wouldn’t take any offense about having a hard time turning the toys in. That kind of run gave several different clubs the excuse to get together and party instead of fighting each other in some biker oriented bar.

The point made is that this kind of charity is better for us than one funded by our government. Instead of being some kind of political tool the Toys for Tots Run shows how the wildest kind of folk can help the needy. The gifts are a lot easier for the needy to take than those given by disciplinary charities. The idea is to let the young folk feel truly loved.