ABATE District #9 to host 19th Annual Toy Run

ABATE of Kansas District #9 will host its 19th Annual Cloud County Toy Run on Saturday.
The parade begins at the Concordia Airport Park at 1 p.m and will end at the American Legion Post #76, 506 Washington St.
All motorcycles are welcome to participate in the parade.
Entry into the parade is one unwrapped toy.
Parade participants will line up at the Airport Park at noon.
The parade will travel down Lincoln Street and then down Sixth Street through downtown Concordia.
Phil Sudduth invites everyone not participating in the parade to come out and watch.
There will be a chili feed and auction at the American Legion following the parade.
“One of the cool things about our toy run is that 100 percent of what is donated goes to the kids in Cloud County,” Sudduth said.
Sudduth said that there are no administrative costs. Everything for the event is donated.
“We are about the only toy run I know that does that,” Sudduth said.
The toys and auction proceeds will be distributed throughout Cloud County for Christmas.
Donations prior to the Toy Run can be made at California Phil's, 902 Lincoln St.
The toys and cash donated during the event go to Camey Thurner, the resource director at Concordia First Christian Church, who takes care of the distribution to the children, including teens.
Thurner has been handling the distribution for about seven years.
“We don't want a child to be left out,” Thurner said.
Along with distributing toys to those who have filled out applications, Thurner provides items for other programs that are serving the children in the area.
Thurner can use the cash donations to purchase toys that are needed, or specific items that that have been requested such as jackets, shoes, clothing, etc.
“I have the authority to go out and purchase items that will fill in that gap,” Thurner said.
Donations can be made after the Toy Run at the First Christian Church, 614 Cedar St.
For more information about the Toy Run, contact Sudduth at 785-243-9991 or Jon Puckett at 785-427-6519.