Hope for the Holidays Toy Drive, Motorcycle Run to Benefit Brightside

SPRINGFIELD — The children served by Brightside for Families and Children will be the recipients of the annual Hope for the Holidays Toy Drive and Motorcycle Run. The three-day event will begin on Friday, Nov. 1 and continue Saturday, Nov. 2 at the Walmart store at 591 Memorial Dr. in Chicopee. During those two days, new unwrapped toys, gift cards, and monetary donations will be collected from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

On Sunday, Nov. 3, the Motorcycle Run portion of the event will begin from Walmart to Mercy Medical Center at 299 Carew St. in Springfield, with kickstands up at 11 a.m. The entry fee for the ride will be a new, unwrapped toy per rider. Toys collected during the event will also be distributed to needy children through Lorraine’s Soup Kitchen and Pantry in Chicopee and the Center for Human Development.

Event organizers are Bruce Rivest, Melvyn Hook, and Peter Silvano, who have worked to make the Hope for the Holidays Toy Drive a successful annual event. Rivest originally contacted the Philanthropy department at Mercy Medical Center about coordinating a toy drive for Brightside. Adopted as a child himself from Brightside in 1970, Rivest knows firsthand the important role Brightside plays in the local community.

“We are grateful to be able to continue this annual tradition,” Rivest said. “It’s so important to ensure that every child and family supported by Brightside and Lorraine’s has hope and joy this holiday season.”

Major sponsors of the Hope for the Holidays Toy Drive and Motorcycle Run are Custom Identity Apparel, in memory of Patrick Rud, Moose Family Fraternity, Sons of Mothers MC, Western Mass Weasels, Ace Asphalt, U-Haul, LAMA, Sisters of Steel, Long Riders MC, Cosmos Factory, ZZ & Co. BBQ, Red’s Towing and Recovery, ATC Audio Video and Lighting, Renegade Souls RC, Christian Motorcyclists Assoc., Haymond Law, Crippled Old Busted Bikers, Polish Brotherhood, FLNY Ryderz, Young Marines, Chapin Ambulance, Chicopee Police, Springfield Police, 94.7 WMAS, Elks Riders Lodge 1481, the Hanley Family, Philly’s Bike Detailing, and Walmart.

For more information or to make a donation, visit www.facebook.com/brightsidetoydrive.