On Sunday, April 15, 2012 over 50 motorcyclists joined the Blue Knights Law Enforcement Motorcycle Club, Inc, for their Annual Spring “Toy Run” for pediatric patients at Children’s Regional Hospital at Cooper. Riders donated new toys and $500 to be used towards special gifts for children hospitalized at Cooper.
Members of the Blue Knights Law Enforcement Motorcycle Club, New Jersey Chapter 1, present gifts to two pediatric patients at Children’s Regional Hospital; Diyana Jones, 7, from Camden, NJ and Zachary Macklin, 12, from Clayton, NJ.
Some of the items were distributed to patients on Sunday afternoon. The remaining donations will be given out as morale boosting rewards for children undergoing surgery. When patients leave Cooper, each receives a gift to help them remember a positive experience associated with their hospital stay.
The Blue Knights club was formed in 1974 in Brewer, Maine by nine law enforcement officers, and in thirteen years has grown to over 20,000 members in 635 chapters in 24 countries. The purpose of this corporation is to provide a fraternal and social motorcycle club for law enforcement personnel and associated professions to better the image of motorcyclists, and to help the less fortunate through a reliable charitable organization. Charities that help children, like patients at Cooper, are especially close to their hearts, and the Blue Knights are dedicated to raising money for organizations such as the Make-a-Wish Foundation, Toys for Tots, D.A.R.E., and Concerns of Police Survivors.