To belong to Road Riders for Jesus, a member isn’t required to have a motorcycle, but does need be a Christian and have a servant’s heart, said the leaders of White County’s recently chartered Chapter 115.
The group is part of an international membership that totals about 5,000 people who take it upon themselves to help others in need.
That may take the form of providing Thanksgiving meals for 50 families, said Tim Ritchie, who organizes many events for the chapter.
Helping to get toys to children through Christmas for Kids is another of the chapter’s goals.
Hosting an annual Christmas dinner and playing Santa for the children who attend Camp Quality, a camp for children who have cancer, is a favorite activity the riders sponsor.
“Lots of people are hurting, either financially or through sickness, broken families or drugs,” said Clyde Boone, president of the chapter. “Maybe a widow has a back porch about to fall through, as well. If we can help … we are limited, but we do what we can.”
That may include helping someone who needs prayer, or just someone to talk to.
Road Riders for Jesus members go wherever they are invited — to parades and funerals, with flags and escort support.
The chapter’s help may be as simple as mowing a yard.
“If we get word of someone needing help, we will load up and go do it,” Boone said. “Our ministry is outreach, not just sickness or kids at Christmas, but the elderly we want to reach, too.”
The group plans to put boxes at dollar stores for donations of socks, blankets and stuffed animals that will go to senior citizens at nursing homes this Christmas.
If someone has a hot water heater go out, for example, “We may not be able to buy one, but I can try to locate one,” Ritchie said. “If we help someone who has a bad roof, steps rotting and falling through or a bad porch, I go and try to get donated stuff, … some things many may have [lying around]” like boards or shingles, he added. People often post things on Facebook they don’t need, he said.
The group stresses support for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, too. People don’t realize that many here have children who are treated there, he said.
On the last weekend of April each year, chapter members attend a fundraising event for the hospital.
“I was blessed to go to St. Jude’s, and there were a lot of bikers present, raising money,” Boone said. “Every bit of money for St. Jude’s, we see where it was going. … Once you see the kids and the things [St. Jude’s does], … when it comes to kids, there is no limit.”
The riders know there are a lot of kids in the area hurting, whether physically or with illness, or because of hunger, he said. “There are a lot going hungry.”
Road Riders for Jesus held an event in early November at Searcy’s Spring Park to get donations of money and canned goods for Thanksgiving meals. At the event, chili and hot dogs, chips, dip and the trimmings were served, and Christian bands provided entertainment. About 150 people showed up, even with the weather “iffy” that day, Boone said, and businesses all over town donated door prizes worth about $1,000.
Names were taken for those needing help, and the names are kept confidential. Ritchie said only his wife, Linda, sees the names, and first names only are put on the boxes of food, and the number needing to be fed. At Complete in Christ Church at Searcy, chapter members met and fixed the boxes.
This year, there were not as many canned goods as usual, but cash donated was $999.47. Turkeys were purchased, and the price ranged from $9 to $12 each for the birds. About $700 goes to buy turkeys. Also in the boxes are green beans, corn, instant mashed potatoes, stuffing, brownie mix, sugar and Kool-Aid.
This is the 11th year that Chapter 115 has held the food drive.
“Our goal is to serve as many as we can in White County, within a 40-mile radius — Searcy, Bald Knob, Bradford, Rose Bud — anywhere,” Ritchie said.
“If people can come pick up the food, that will be arranged,” Boone said, “or if they cannot, the group will deliver. Most know the boxes are coming, but some do not know. ‘Whoa!’ they say, for they are trying to figure how to do Thanksgiving with no money.”
Maybe they have lost their job, Boone said. How to afford a Thanksgiving meal is on their minds, and “we show up with the box,” he said.
One church in Lonoke County, New Beginnings, took up an offering and brought it for the boxes, Boone said.
The Road Riders for Jesus chapter is already planning what to do for New Year’s Eve. Ritchie said the group wants to provide a place for people to come that night, and probably will have a barbecue dinner, then serve adults grape juice at midnight to celebrate. The chapter plans for the event to be a fundraiser for supplying a need for a local city or school, anything from providing fire alarms to helping with expenses with a sick child. The wheels are turning, for sure.
All the work done is by volunteers, and there are no dues to belong to the chapter, which has 24 men and women, ages 19 to 95, Boone said.
“They come and help out of love and compassion for people. … My mom is 81, and she helps. We have that age group coming to help, … and none [of us] wants to toot our own horns. We do what we do for the glory of God.”
Toby Wills, vice president of the chapter, is a Desert Storm veteran. He points to the symbol “M/M” that each chapter member wears to denote “Motorcycle Ministries.” Wills was a pastor, and Boone still is, at Cave 2 Ministries at Bald Knob.
The group is still trying to change the image, a wrong one, that many have of “guys on motorcycles,” Ritchie said. When they are seen, the reaction is, “Oh no, motorcycle people are trouble. … We want to take that away … change that — [that of] drug dealers, thugs. A lot more ministries are flying up, a lot more are reaching toward Jesus.”
Chapter members also host a retreat in May for families and children of Camp Quality at the campgrounds at Bald Knob. The retreat gets the families together to help set the stage for the camp, which is unique in its purpose and “quality.” Children with cancer get to experience what healthy children do at camp and are chaperoned one-on-one, as well as having medical staff on-site and on call.
Ritchie said the riders assist with Christmas for Kids, during which names and wish lists of children are solicited and filled by the community. The chapter puts on an all-night event at Searcy’s Berryhill Park before Christmas to collect toys that overflow Walmart tractor-trailers.
“We try to get the closest thing we can” to what is on a child’s wish list, Ritchie said of the efforts of many volunteers and groups who work on the project each year.
All of these activities are concrete evidence that Road Riders for Jesus Chapter 115 members’ hearts and hands are productive and busy here in White County, making the holidays brighter for many area residents.