It's Almost Here! :shock: Bigger and Better! This years event will include; Parade - Event Party -Bands-Singers-Children's Games - Monkey Show - Clowns and Magician - Prizes - Professional Photos of You and Your Bike Available. Refreshments at the site and much more! There will be Lots of Kids so please join in the games and the fun. Click here;:arrow: Chiang Mai Toy Ride Website Remember it is not just about toys. Funds from sponsors and your donations are used through out the year at charity give aways to poor villages, schools and hospitals. We have supplied blankets, school supplies, playground equipment and even hospital supplies. MAKE A CHILD SMILE!
I was just given three teddy bears from a young waitress named Boat who works the afternoon shift at the un-irish bar. She had brought them herself and asked me if I would take them Sunday because she wanted to help the children. What a great lady. Rex
Good occasion to say by by and head South to Phuket after 6 weeks on the road. Some dreams must come to an end. ( Or perhaps a short stop over in Udon Thani? Who knows where the winds will take us) Pico
Great job David putting the time and efforts into this event. A worthy cause. I'll miss the ride due to the busted leg but I'll be at the X-centre to give my support and donation. Hope most of the GT-rider clan also show support for such a cause. You need not even buy as stuffed animal, you can be a lazy git like myself and just peel off money to make you feel good. Not sure if people are aware but Davids earlier years racing infamy and record setting feats helped tremendously with the charity in pulling some strings. Good on you Dave :wink: .
Thanks for the kind words, B & T. But as you know, things like this toy ride don't happen without a group effort and the support of many people. Should be a great event this year. At least it will be if enough bikes show up. :roll: Just a reminder. I have fielded criticism in the past that we are wasting time and money just presenting toys. The toys give the kids a great day and something to remember. Funds raised from our generous sponsors and donations allow us to purchase more "serious" items that are donated to schools, hospitals and needy villages through the rest of the year.
Very happy you bring this point up, Dave. To be honest when I saw the big parade of Teddy bears and other sweet dolls I could not help to think= Some people are more into decorating themselves than giving one thought to what do this children do with it. Teddies too big to play with. Did none of you these helpless eyes of many boys holding obediently a small doll and had to wai. NOT ONE TOY FOR BOYS. At least I didnt see one. If the GT Riders , men , think back when they where of that age. I , speaking for myself a boy at the age of say 8, I would have been terribly hurt by a doll present, my young manhood would have been damaged. It makes me happy , Dave that my cash donation is used for more productive matters. Although I didnt think through it myself and brought some Teddies too. Nothing for boy's . Next time I'll do better. PICO
Pico- While what you say is true that there seems to be an abundance of toys that are stuffed animals and teddy bears, a number of other toys were distributed. There were boys clutching remote controlled cars, super hero figures, badminton games and footballs. I don't think any child went home dissapointed from todays event. We do try to include sports equipment when we do our other give-aways. Your point is well stated however, and something we will keep in mind in the future. I hope you enjoyed yourself and thanks for attending.
I assume I am understood in the right way. TOY RIDE is a wonderful brand name the question is how the marketing message can be broadend to get the organizers what they PRIMARILY want = HARD CASH Perhaps talking more about what is done with the money? Pico
Pico- I completely understand what you are saying and it is taken as constructive suggestions. No problem there. Please continue. Our prime goal, is still to have fun events for the children. THEN we will do what we can in other areas. There are many charities larger than ours doing great things for kids basic needs, but not many are FUN for the kids. I often tell the example of how last year we were asked to buy colostomy bags for the children's ward in a hospital. Because they had to continually wash and re-use the ones they had, and now they could no longer get the "smell" out, they needed new ones and did not have the funds. Of course we purchased them. Did the children need them? Of course. Fun for the kids? I think not much. We are trying to walk a middle road that is misunderstood at times. We know we are not able to make a dent in alleviating the problems of the needy children in the area when you look at the big picture. Maybe someday we will be big enough. So for now we leave that to the bigger charitable groups such as Give and Live. What we CAN do is put some big smiles on the kids faces, show them people care about them personally, and try to grant them some lasting self esteem and happy memories. At the same time, to a lesser extent, promoting motorcycling. At our hospital visit on Christmas Eve this year at Maharaj Hospital, a mother informed us that her child just wanted to see Santa Claus one time. The child was living on life support equipment. We had a Santa with us and visited the child. The life support was later removed and the child is no longer with us. Enough said. Please visit the web site Chiang Mai Toy Ride and also look at the Past Events We are a certified charitable organization in Thailand and (through Give and Live) in the United States. Every penny/baht we get is accounted for and open for review by anyone. We beg, barter, and do whatever we can to promote this event with as little operating expenditure as possible so that everything goes to help the children. Thanks again to all those who have helped and attended our events.
What you say , Dave makes all the sense in the world. And I m glad that you dont mind my analytical comment. You made these kids last Sunday most happy when they won over the adults in the tow pulling competition. But more importantly you gave them the feeling of pride, ever so important for their self-esteem. I am happy that I could contribute my little share. Pico
