Bikers have big hearts when it comes to charity. This is demonstrated every year when hundreds of bikers from Cape Town and surrounds as well as from all over the Overberg take part in the annual Toy Run Overberg.
Leather jackets, boots, badges, helmets and gleaming machines were all the order of the day when a large group of bikers gathered at Caledon Fresh Stop on Sunday 24 November before riding on to the Birkenhead Brewery outside Stanford. Many of the bikes had loads of toys affixed to them, others were carried in panniers.
The air was filled with camaraderie, excitement and lots of bike talk. Although an alternative route from Cape Town via Clarence Drive was offered to riders who wished to avoid the road works, many Cape Town riders said they did not mind the roadworks and did not have to wait long and chose to ride to Caledon to join the mass ride.
Many bikers do the Toy Run and other charity rides every year. For some, like Klaas Heiligenberg who moved from the Netherlands to South Africa six months ago, it was their first toy run.
Asked by Hermanus Times why he supported charity rides such as the Toy Run, veteran biker Robert Nell from Cape Town replied: “To me charity begins at home. This is a good cause, and I have been supporting charity rides every year since 1988, with the exception of 2020 and 2021 during Covid. I was homeless for some time during my youth and I know what it is to see your friends getting Christmas presents while you don’t get any. I am okay and blessed now, and this is just about giving something back. The underprivileged are very close to my heart, as I have been part of that community for a very long time. To see others happy and smiling makes me happy as well.”
All the toys collected during this drive will be distributed to less fortunate children across the Overberg.
