Joanne Williams
Editor
(Photo provided – Planning for the Harvest Run are [from left] Amber Watters, Doug Kalnbach and Helping Hands Director Amanda Thompson. The run is a fundraiser for the food pantry.)
There are all kinds of fundraisers out there for all kinds of causes.
On Saturday, Aug. 29, the community is invited to raise funds for Helping Hands Food Pantry by participating in the second annual Harvest Poker Run, organized by a number of motorcycle clubs in the area.
More than a year ago, this fundraiser was the brainchild of Amber Watters, rider in the Wild Injuns Club. Club members liked it and gave her 30 days to put it together, she said.
“We raised $4,000,” she said. This year, “we’re hoping to exceed that.”
There will be five stops for what Watters hopes is more than 70 riders. Why five stops?
According to those in the know, “A poker run is an organized event in which participants, usually using motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles, boats, snowmobiles, horses, on foot or other means of transportation, must visit five to seven checkpoints, drawing a playing card at each one. The object is to have the best poker hand at the end of the run. “
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the record for the largest event was set in 2009 with 2,136 motorcyclists benefiting the Fallen Firefighter Survivors Foundation.
Participants do not have to have a vehicle to participate. At the final stop, the Wild Injuns Clubhouse, 8750 Dow Road in Mulliken, there will be food, a silent auction and prizes.
“We are all riding for a cause,” Watters said.
Registration for run participants is at 10 a.m. on that Saturday, at the Brotherhood MC, 1917 S. Washington Ave., in Lansing. The run begins at 11:30 a.m.
