Motorcycle club helps Lions scoot closer to $50K goal

by Marlisa Keyes Staff Writer
| November 30, 2010 6:00 AM

SANDPOINT — This year Santa and her helpers are riding motorcycles.

The Scootin’ Sisters have given a modern twist to the holiday season with their annual Toys for Tots ride.

The local motorcyle club’s members rode out on Sept. 18 for the third time to collect money and toys for the fund drive, bringing in $6,623 and a bag of toys for their effort.

The amount is $2,000 more than last year’s collection, said club member Colleen Ankersmit.

The donation brings the Toys for Tots total to $8,685 and closer to this year’s $50,000 goal.

“With a poor economy and iffy weather, the Sisters were heartened again by the overwhelming generosity of this community,” Ankersmit wrote in an e-mail to the Daily Bee.

The riders took off from Mays Honda in Sagle, where Carl May was made the first and only “honorary sister” for his continued support and encouragement of women riders, and the Scootin’ Sisters.

Poor weather changed the ride’s route.

Originally, the group planned to take the Bull River Road through Montana, so some riders split off at the Three Mile Junction in Boundary County, while the others returned to Sandpoint.

Donations can be sent to the Daily Bee, 310 Church Street, or mailed to the Daily Bee, P.O. Box 159, Sandpoint, ID, 83864 or dropped by at Panhandle State Bank’s branches in Sandpoint and Ponderay.

If you want your donation to be anonymous, make sure to make note of that on the outside of the envelope which includes your donation or on your check.

Your donations are tax deductible.

Sandpoint Lions will take applications for those who need food boxes or will shop in the Lions Den on Wednesdays and Fridays in December from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The dates are: Dec. 1, Dec. 3, Dec. 6, Dec. 8, Dec. 10, Dec. 13, Dec. 15 and Dec. 17. Applications can be picked up at the Health and Welfare office in Ponderay or at the Lions Den on the specified dates.

Pickup dates for food boxes and toys and vouchers are:

Monday, Dec. 20, food boxes.
Tuesday, Dec. 21, box food, 6 p.m.
Wednesday, Dec. 22, A-J, give out day.
Thursday, Dec. 23, K-Z, give out day.