Freedom of the Road Riders (FORR) Local 13 ushered in the holiday season in style with their Betty Adams Memorial Toy Run Saturday.
“Betty Adams was a hometown girl,” explains FORR …
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![Santa Claus mounts up to lead the toy drive to The Help Center Saturday afternoon. [Nathan Lilley]](https://beta.creativecirclecdn.com/mexicoledger/original/20211110-142418-IMG_1238.JPG)
![FORR was well represented at Saturday’s toy drive, delivering a trailer full of toys for the Christmas season. [Nathan Lilley]](https://beta.creativecirclecdn.com/mexicoledger/original/20211110-142413-IMG_1245.JPG)
Freedom of the Road Riders (FORR) Local 13 ushered in the holiday season in style with their Betty Adams Memorial Toy Run Saturday.
“Betty Adams was a hometown girl,” explains FORR member, Kim Archer. “At the time she was in FORR, none of the locals in Missouri did any kind of a toy run.”
But Adams changed that, as Archer explains.
“Starting the one here in Mexico was her idea and she put it together,” Archer said. “However she passed due to a car accident in 1989 before the first one could be held here.”
With the loss of Adams, surviving members felt it appropriate that the drive bear her name.
“Now several of the locals hold one following her lead for community service,” Archer said.
Saturday’s run had two phases, starting at State Farm Insurance in Centralia, before gathering at the Missouri Veterans Home in Mexico. Santa Claus led the procession which included bikers and a wagon - or sleigh - chock full of unwrapped toys. Toys were ultimately delivered to the Adopt-a-Child programs at the Laura Miller George Help Center in Mexico. As the group left the Veterans Home, they played Christmas carols on their motorcycles as they traveled to the center.
FORR Local 13 works all year holding fundraisers like the car show and dance, as well as poker runs to raise money to buy toys for donation. All FORR events are open to the public, not just for bikers.
