Saturday - April 24, 2010
Feed The Children Truck
(Scroll Down for Pictures)

If you missed this one, you missed something special. Despite the rain and the threatening weather about 40 STAR members showed up to participate in the distribution of food from the Feed the Children Truck. Represented was, Atlanta, Stone Mountain, Cartersville, Braselton, Fayetteville, McDonough and even Lumberton, NC. We even had four brave souls ride in the rain. Rick and Barbara from our chapter rode down from their home near Carterville and Roy Mintz and Tony rode 8 hrs from Lumberton, NC.

The day started with rain. We met the truck at a Kohl's near Gwinnett Mall for a parade to the church. At 8:30 it was raining. There were the four bikes and a lot of trucks and cars. As the 9:00 hour rolled near the rain stopped. Radar showed a break in the rain. A window of about 3-4 hours. We rolled out of the parking lot pretty close to 9. The FTC truck with the four bikes and about 20 vehicles in tow arrived at the church about 9:15. We were greeted at the church by about 20 church volunteers and pastors very eager to get involved and help with the event.

Within minutes the truck was in position, Tents were set up to protect the food boxes from any rain. With a rented forklift, pallets were easily moved from the trucks to their waiting positions beneath the canopies. Many people brought toys for the children. By 10:00 everything was in position and we were ready to give out food. The event was scheduled to start at 10:30, but by 10:00 cars were lining up and we gladly opened the lines and let them get their food.

They sky was still very overcast, but except for an early 3 minute shower early on, there was no rain. As the time went by, more cars of thankful people came through and the volunteers enthusiastically put the boxes in cars, vans and truck. More than a few showed up on foot to carry their boxes home. Some did and others were driven home by volunteers in their own cars. Everyone did everything they could to get the food to those who needed it.

As the morning expired and noon arrived, our window of dry skies was running out. Radar showed the next band moving in. People were still coming through and we still had well over 100 units left to distribute. By 12:45 it was noticeably getting darker and reports were that bad storms were headed our way. We started consolidating what was left under one or two tents and started breaking down and cleaning up.

Within a few minutes our luck ran out and the skies opened up. The rain was a little on the heavy side and continued until we left. Happily the last boxes were given out quickly. The rest of the tents broken down. The empty pallets were loaded back into the truck and as quickly as we got there, we were gone.

Many of us headed over to Bugaboo Creek to dry off and more importantly to get some much needed food. We discussed the day, ate and drank. The fellowship was as good as always and we knew we had helped some people who needed it.

We owe a lot of thanks to every member of STAR who showed up and participated in this. At the start of the day, I had my doubts as to how many would show up in the rain and threatening weather to help with this. I should have known better. We are STAR and we support each other and we care about the people we were trying to help. The turnout was fantastic. I am proud to be a member.

We also want to thank Rainbow Village for partnering with us and taking care of the voucher distribution. We want to thank Norcross First United Methodist Church for allowing us to use their property for the distribution...and let's not forget their members who got out there with us and helped in any way they could. They provided coffee in the morning and sandwiches in the afternoon. Additional thanks to members of Perimeter Church who also showed up and pitched it with the distribution. Thanks to Atlanta Motor World and Capital Cycle who helped in the fund raising over the years that allowed us to do this.

We ride, we eat, we have fun. We are very blessed. This day was all about helping those who are not as fortunate as we are. I hope that somehow today we improved their life by just a little bit. Hopefully they will be able to pay it forward one day. Hopefully we will never be in the position of need that they are in. But if we ever are, I pray that organizations like STAR, Feed the Children, Rainbow Village, and the churches are their to help.

Chapter Members Attending:

Doug & Teresa Turco
Gary & Maria Kohl
Preston & Stephanie Howard
Rick & Barbara Campbell
Malon Metz
Marty Howard
Chuck & Cindy Pierce

AND members of Braselton, Cartersville, Fayetteville, McDonough, Stone Mountain and Lumberton, NC