Florida - The crisp air and the clear skies Saturday provided a perfect day for the 100 bikers who participated in the Stop the Hurt Ride.
The ride, which began at 10 a.m. at the Home Depot in Pea Ridge, is the bikers' second annual fundraiser for the Santa Rosa Kids' House. The house helps abused and neglected children in Santa Rosa County by raising awareness about child abuse, by determining and intervening in abuse situations and by offering therapy to help children and their families recover from abuse.
"I am very happy with the weather and the turnout," said Tammy Burton, executive director for the Santa Rosa Kids' House. "I was a little worried about that hurricane, but thankfully it has already passed."
The cost to participate in the ride was a single donation of $20. Bikers from Navarre, Pace and Pensacola brought their bikes, family members and good spirits in preparation for the 76-mile ride through the county that ended at the Santa Rosa Kids' House in Milton. The Santa Rosa Sheriff Department escorted the bikers to provide safety and to block intersections.
"Last year was my first ride and it was perfect because I didn't have to stop at all due to the police escort," participant Gerlinder Smith of Pace said.
The Santa Rosa Kids' House decided to have a fundraising ride for bikers because they want to include different groups to help their cause.
"Bikers are very civic-minded," Burton said.
Perry Logan, better known as "Big Juicy" among his biker friends, is a member of the nonprofit organization Bikers Against Child Abuse.
"We do a lot to help the Santa Rosa Kids' House," Logan of Pace said. "We go to court with them and we counsel them."
Local members of the American Bikers Aimed Towards Education - ABATE - also participated.
At the completion of the ride, the bikers gathered at the Santa Rosa Kids' House for lunch, door prizes and a fundraiser game where bikers were thrown into a mock jail, Burton said. Bikers had to pay their way out.
All the money raised went directly to the house.
"We're here to empower the children," said Michelle "Nana" Young, who came out to support her husband and also is a member of Hurricane Alley, a local chapter of Bikers Against Child Abuse.
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