Local motorcyclists plan to gather to raise money for needy children
By Aaron Moore
Published in News on August 8, 2012 1:46 PM
After Allen Floars lost his 17-year-old son, Jacob, in a car crash almost two years ago, he said there were days when he and his wife could hardly function.
But Floars promised himself that something good would come out of that tragedy, so he and his wife, Catherine, set out to make their son proud by combining two things he loved: helping children and motorcycles.
"He was just a giving kid," Floars said. "There's nothing else we can do for him, but I just wanted to do something in memory of him."
Last year, the Floars family teamed up with Bikers for Christ and First Pentecostal Holiness Church to launch Jacob's Run, in which bikers from all over the area blazed across two counties to raise money for Vidant Children's Hospital in Greenville.
Floars said the event had around 200 bikers and raised more than $7,000 for the hospital.
And next month he is going to do it even bigger.
"I've been working my tail off," Floars said. "It's been a lot of hot days riding."
But Floars said he couldn't do it without his church and his biker friends.
"This takes effort from a lot of people," Floars said. "This (isn't) just about me and my wife. The biker community is one of the most giving communities. They're always out for a good cause."
And working to help children is one thing Floars said would make his son happy to see.
"When you have something that's so negative, so devastating, you've got to find something positive to balance that out," he said. "It helps both me and my wife out."
Floars said he chose last year to give to the Children's Hospital because so many families rely on the facility and he knows the money is saving children's lives.
"It just came to me like 'boom,' like a lightbulb in my head," he said.
He also wanted to involve motorcycles because his son loved them as much as he did.
"Jacob wanted to ride so bad he didn't know what to do," Floars said. "He just loved motorcycles. I love to ride, and it just gives us an opportunity to ride and meet people."
The second annual Jacob's Run will take place Sept. 15 in nine different counties: Lenoir, Craven, Martin, Edgecombe, Wilson, Wayne, Pitt, Greene and Beaufort. Bikers will start from their local sponsor's business, then drive to Winterville for food and entertainment. From there they will drive to First Pentecostal Holiness Church in Goldsboro, where there will be a chili cook-off, a prize drawing and a classic car show. Prizes include four Captain Stacy Fishing Charter passes and a one-week ocean front condo stay at Windward Dunes. Tickets are $15 per biker and $5 for the general public.
Bikers in Goldsboro will start at Country Time at 2006 N. William St. and must be at the Hometown Harley-Davidson in Winterville in time to leave by noon.
For more information on entering or about the event, call Allen Floars at 252-289-5568 or visit www.jacobsrun.info.