From The Orange County Register
By Joanna Clay/ Staff Writer
Felipe Castro’s daughter Isabella, 5, cannot contain her smile after receiving a princess doll. Isabella has been in the hospital for six months, said Castro, who lives in Costa Mesa. (Mindy Schauer, OC Register Staff Photographer)
Santa Claus may have reindeer and a sleigh to deliver his toys. But on Sunday, the Orange Coast Harley Owners Group made do without Rudolph and his crew to deliver hundreds of toys.
Instead, the group had about 350 motorcycles stretching 3 miles, driving from Orange County Harley-Davidson in Irvine to the Children’s Hospital of Orange County in Orange.
They arrived at about 10 a.m. to deliver gifts to the hundreds of children who pass through the hospital’s doors.
It is the largest toy donation the hospital gets
“A lot of our families don’t have the means or the time to go Christmas shopping,” said Stephanie Chami, Child Life Department manager. “Play is an essential part of kids’ coping. That’s how kids deal with stress.”
Most of CHOC’s chronically ill patients, especially intensive care and cancer patients, will be in the hospital during the holidays, Chami said. The Harley club event is a way to distract patients and families during a stressful time, she said.
“They get to stop for a minute and say, ‘Hey, we can have a fun moment and be a family,’ and not be focusing so much on illness for a short period of time,” Chami said.
Hollie Harrison, 19, has been in the hospital for three days and plans to be out soon. Her boyfriend, Robert Shiroma, pushed her outside in a wheelchair so that she could take in the hundreds of motorcycles, live music and holiday cheer
She said that she was blown away by the event, but that it didn’t surprise her that people wanted to help the hospital. CHOC has made her feel at home, she said.
“It’s amazing. Someone comes in twice a day to ask me about activities I’d like to do or games,” said Harrison, of Mission Viejo.
It threw her off at first, she said: She didn’t want to accept gifts.
“I kept saying, ‘Save them for everyone else.’ They’re like, ‘Here take it,’” she said. “I got a blanket, socks, a beanie and this really cool light that puts stars on the ceiling. That’s my favorite.”
Jean Pence of Placentia rode her candy-orange Harley-Davidson Road Glide to the hospital. She said she was one of the roughly 20 riders who did the first ride more than two decades ago.
That first year, the pack was led by Santa – in red leathers on a red Harley.
“They wouldn’t let us in the hospital. They were afraid of us,” she said with a laugh. But, she said, “by the third year, they invited us into the lobby.”
Santa was there this year, too, outside with a whimsical wood-and-velvet chair. He visited patients inside and even climbed a ladder outside the building, knocking on windows of patients who couldn’t make it out, city officials said.
“You see them when they see Santa here, and their faces light up,” said Steve Burke, director of the Orange Coast Harley Owners Group. “Last year, there was a little kid that was very young, and they didn’t know if he was going to make it. The parents wanted to get a picture with their child and Santa Claus, you know what I mean, because he might not be around next year. It tugs at your heartstrings. …
“We do what we can to cheer a kid up.”
Contact the writer: jclay@ocregister.com
