angels for sam

the day after we got home from our vacation, back in june, there was a benefit ride for my niece, camryn (neuroblastoma) and another lady, melanie, who has a blood cancer (not sure the type). the organization that set it up is called, angels for sam. they do this sort of thing a few times a year, raising money to help people with medical expenses. originally, adam and i had planned on riding the motorcycle, along with the other hundred or so bikes, but he had a couple things that he needed to do, so i joined some friends and rode the bus with the other 'non bike owners'.

{me, steph, nancy}

the bus riders had to meet at the final destination and park at the school across the street. we loaded up onto the three charter/party buses they had for the day, and we drove to the first bar, which is where all the motorcycles met. at the first bar, the maingate, is where they were selling raffle tickets and t-shirts, had free-will donations, and of course the bar was serving...before 10am. at this location, they introduced the people that the ride was benefiting and then the guy in charge said a prayer for safety and told the crowd the route we'd be taking. soon, everyone loaded onto the bikes or the buses and we were off to the next stop.

{1/2 of camryn's siblings and their friends}

{my parents getting ready to take off}

we were able to see all the bikes as we were approaching the off ramp on our way to the sportsmans' club in hartford. if you have never seen or been a part of something like this, i will tell you that it was an amazing site to see. to think that all these people came together for the same reason, having a personal connection or not to the ones involved, was really a neat thing. once we arrived at the sportsmans' club, we drew our poker hand and got our drinks of choice. we mingled and enjoyed the company of all that were there. after about 45 minutes, everyone loaded up again and we made our way to the third location in knoxville. 

{this is only a portion of the riders}

{melanie and my sister, jen}

the location in knoxville was a a place called the rib shack. it had amazing bbq and many of the riders ate there. i had the leftovers from my dad's order. the few bites i had, made me a bit sad that i didn't get my own sandwich to devour...it was that good, or i was already that drunk...at 12:30 in the afternoon. we pretty much stayed at this location for an hour and then headed to the final bar, the norwood inn. 

{my dad chatting it up}

the last leg of the ride, the weather kind of started getting crappier than it was already. on top of the cool temps, it started raining. by the time we arrived at the inn, it had stopped, but was still very overcast and damp. upon our arrival, there were tons of people. i thought there were a lot that went on the ride, but there were even more people that came out to support camryn and melanie. my aunt had brought camryn and the twins to the final stop to be part of it. camryn thought it was so cool that all those people were there for her. at this stop, there was a band singing, there was a free meal served, they did the raffle drawings and people just gathered for such a great cause. it was a great afternoon. overall, i think my sister said they raised over $4,000, that was split between the two, to help with medical expenses. 

*this is the only picture i have of melanie and camryn, and its from my phone, so it's not very good. if you click on the link below (hopefully it works) you can see a good picture of two very strong girls. 

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=128934017188072&set=a.128923367189137.33113.100002144228550&type=1&theater