Law Enforcement Motorcycle Club Raises Money for Foster Kids

The local chapter of the Blue Knights held their annual CASA Benefit Ride Saturday, March 24th to help support local abused and neglected children.

Starting in 2014, the Blue Knights GA Chapter XVIII began partnering with the Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) program, which provides safe homes for abused or neglected children involved in juvenile court deprivation proceedings, for a fundraising motorcycle ride that raises money to help care for the kids in the program.

CASA advocates are volunteers who fight for the children involved in court proceedings. These volunteers, unlike paid social workers, work only for the best interest of the children in their cases. They make sure children’s needs are met and that they have a safe and stable home.

This year’s ride had the largest ever total number of participants with more than a hundred bikes and jeeps riding along. The bikes were escorted from the Elks Lodge on South Davis Road through their traditional route to Pine Mountain and back for the one hour benefit ride.

Once the hungry bikers were back, they were treated to a barbeque lunch provided by DJ’s Wings in La-Grange.

The group also held their traditional charity auction, where they auctioned off donated items from businesses around Troup County.

All in all, the bikers raised $2,255 for CASA during the event, which will go directly to helping provide for the children of Troup County that are in foster care. This will be added to the total from their Christmas raffle proceeds where they raffled off a kids four-wheeler, for a total of $4,200. The Knights expect to present a total check to CASA sometime next week.

The event is an annual tradition for the Blue Knights and has grown each year. No date has been scheduled for next year’s ride, but expect it again next spring.

The Blue Knights are a non-profit fraternal organization consisting of active and retired law enforcement officers who enjoy riding motorcycles. Internationally, the club has over 19,000 members in more than 640 chapters, across 26 countries.

The local chapter includes active and retired members from all law enforcement agencies including: Troup County Sheriff’s Office, La-Grange Police, West Point Police, and Georgia State Patrol, among others.

For more information on CASA, how to volunteer, or to donate, please call 706- 845-8243 or visit their office at 118 Ridley Avenue in La-Grange.

The author of this article can be reached via email at tmurphy@ troupcountynews. net.