A special article from AAF-BR Board Member Kelley Criscoe:
This past Sunday I attended the AAF-BR and Nubian Kruzer’s toy delivery event. I have wanted to attend for a couple years but never could make it for one reason or another. This year, I made it a point to attend and bring my 3-year-old son (we drove behind the motorcycles in my car). The event is everything you’d think it would be… fun and heart-warming and slightly badass given all of the motorcycles… but I didn’t expect it to really touch me the way that it did.
Right when Wesley and I arrived at Harley, I knew this was going to be something that I’d always remember. First, the bikes were freakin’ sweet and they had the best Pigs in a Blanket I’ve ever had in my life. But on top of those awesome selling points, the people in attendance were some of the kindest and warmest I’ve ever met. Everyone was all smiles and truly filled with the joy of giving and the spirit of Christmas.
After a brief run-down of the day’s events and a group prayer, we headed out to our first stop, an apartment complex near the airport in Baker. I had no idea what to expect, but I can guarantee you, if I did expect anything it wasn’t what I experienced. The bikes all lined up forming an aisle to the trailer of toys. Each child and a parent then walked down that magnificent row of motorcycles to the trailer and were each individually handed a toy.
Insert smiles, laughter, thanks and countless sounds of “Wow!” and “Awesome!” here.
I didn’t actually count the number of children who received toys, but my best guess was easily over 200 at this first stop.
After every child had received a gift, some of the older girls got together and did a little dance number. They ended it by yelling in unison, “Thank you Nubian Kruzers!” Insert applause and tears here.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t continue on to the next stop in Mall City. I can only imagine how rewarding that second stop must have been as well.
On our way home, after dropping Orhan McMillan back off at Harley, I asked my son what he thought about the day’s events. (I had explained to him many times throughout the week that we were giving toys to kids that didn’t really have any so he understood what was going on.) His response was “we made them happy.” And that we most certainly did.
Great job AAF-BR and Nubian Kruzers! Happy Holidays!
Kelley Criscoe
AAF-BR Government Relations Chair
PS – Next year I’m riding bitch!