By Hailey Andersen
If you’ve never seen a group of more than 100 bikers riding through the streets of Bryan College Station dressed as Santa Claus and his helpers with stuffed animals tied to their motorcycles, then you’re in for a treat this holiday season.
Thirty years ago, a new type of charity emerged in the motorcycle community. Today, a biker group in B/CS called Brazos de Dios still comes together to ride through the neighborhoods and give back to our community every Christmas.
Alex Gipson and her mother Susan are in charge of the annual Brazos de Dios Toy Run Foundation in B/CS. The foundation was originally started in 1988 by the previous owner of the College Station Harley Davidson dealership, Russ Welch, and passed on to the Gipson family in 2016.
The first toy run didn’t go as smoothly as planned. Welch told Susan that the first toy run had about 25 bikes and an armored car, she says. “When they went into the neighborhood up in College Station, all of a sudden a SWAT team had surrounded them,” she explains. “Someone had reported that a biker gang was robbing the neighborhood.”
Now after 30 years, Brazos de Dios has grown to 189 bikers as of last year. With their 30th annual toy run coming up this season, Brazos de Dios strives to continue giving back to the community by giving families the necessities they need but may not be able to afford.
“It is very little about toys; it is really about family needs,” Susan says. “It really probably has the wrong name as toy run.”
Rather than riding their motorcycles through neighborhoods giving out toys, they ride through the neighborhoods delivering beds, cleaning supplies, washers, dryers, and other services asked for by families.
“We are all about giving back to the community and we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the community here supporting us, so we try to give back,” says Alex. “The toy run foundation itself is so amazing to help the families, and to see their faces that day when we deliver the gifts made it an easy decision to keep it all going.”
Families are nominated by schools, churches, police stations, and hospitals for a visit from the Brazos de Dios. Anyone can nominate a family going through a traumatic experience, poverty, loss of a loved one, or any other hardship; however only 12 to 15 families are chosen. Once the families are chosen, Alex and Susan meet with them to figure out the best way they can help.
“For most of these families, toys are not high on their priority list,” says Susan. “[Rather], it is basic necessities to live.”
Brazos de Dios partners with Ashley Furniture, Sleep Station, and other businesses to supply families with new furniture and clothing. After the families are chosen and their needs have been established, these companies step in and make sure the families have something to receive.
“D&D Moving and Storage gets their big pink trailer, and the day before the toy run we get everybody together that is in the committee to load up the trailer and the trailer helps take it all around,” says Alex. Additionally, community volunteers help wrap the gifts and load them into the trailer separated by family.
“There are so many moving parts, but it goes so smoothly and it all works out so well,” says Alex. “It is pretty crazy to see it all come together and happen.”
