The benefit ride page has been updated, and we're in promotional mode about that event.  Very excited!  It's going to be on October 20 at Republic Harley Davidson in Stafford, and we'll have live music featuring the Vu Du Kings.  If you haven't ever heard these guys, you're in for a real treat.  They're just an exceptional band.  Come on out and ride, or just visit and enjoy the event.  Going to feature a bike show, and food and drink.  Lunch is free with ride registration, or will be a nominal charge for those who are not going on the ride.

We had a very nice fundraiser at the METRO Bus Roadeo on Saturday, March 24.  We raised right at $1000, selling funnel cakes, slushies, popcorn, and with the dunking booth.

We had some problems with not enough burner space to cook as many funnel cakes as people wanted, but we will remedy that for future events.  At one point, we had a line waiting for funnel cakes for about a half hour.  Wow...  just wow.  We also completely sold out of slushies, and almost sold out of popcorn.  Without a doubt, the METRO Blue Santa vendor tent was the busiest tent in the Roadeo.

Thanks to all the volunteers, and to George Greanias and Andy Skabowski for taking a turn in the dunking booth, for the cause!  METRO Blue Santa is doing very well so far this year.

It has been some time since this blog was updated, and we apologize for that.  Facebook has been updated regularly, as it is more expedient to do so there, so we hope the news has been received by the good folks who support MBS.

The raffle TV was won by Sgt. Rodney Jackson, of the METRO Police Department.  The ticket was drawn at the motorcycle rally by a young boy of about 4 years old.  The raffle event brought in about $3000 for the kids at Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital, so thank you to everyone who participated.

The First Annual Motorcycle Ride and Show was a nice success.  It raised around $4000.  We would have preferred a better turnout, but for the first time, not too bad!

The following gifts were given to Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital on December 12th:
300 teddy bears
300 coloring books
300 24-packs of crayons
2 X-Box 360 / G155 portable game systems
24 games for X-Box 360
1 Playstation3
12 games for Playstation3
Approximately 40 DVD movie titles to play on the portable X-Box 360 systems
Approximately 70 individual gifts of varying age/gender ($25-$40 value) to be delivered on Christmas morning

All remaining/leftover items were given to Children's Memorial Hermann for them to keep and give out at their discretion, for birthdays, or for instances where a pick-me-up is especially deserved for some child.

A lot of pictures were taken, and we still have yet to post them all to Facebook, but it's coming.  Please bear with us on this, as this time of year is obviously very busy.

We have booked the Houston Texans Cheerleaders to be at the benefit motorcycle ride and show!  They will be appearing from 10 AM to 1 PM, posing for pictures with bikes and fans, and signing autographs.

We also have live music scheduled.  More on that later.

It's ramping up nicely!  We have received sponsorship calls from a variety of sources, including AMSOIL, who are going to be contributing to our goody packs and to the silent auction.  We will have a moonwalk for the kids, other activities.

So everyone, plan to be there at Stevenson Park, 1100 S. Friendswood Drive, in Friendswood, on November 12, between 10 AM and 4 PM.  It's going to be a whole lot of fun!

Also, on November 4, 2011, West BOF is having a METRO Blue Santa benefit barbecue.  Chef Joe Becerra of the West BOF body shop will be cooking the goods, $7 per plate for brisket and chicken, $8 per plate for ribs and chicken.  Plates include potato salad, beans, bread and a piece of cake!  Reserve your plate by calling Michelle Fairley at 713-615-7522.  MBS staff will be delivering plates to 1900 Main for lunch, so if you order one, be sure to specify to Michelle you want us to bring it to you.

Okay, sorry it's been so long since the last update, but here we go.  Been very busy.

Beverly Hollis has donated a nice Coach purse to the event silent auction.  We've received donations of 4 concealed handgun classes, two each from Officers Randy Foster and Rick Hernandez.  Thank you SO MUCH guys!

We also received some leather gear from Renegade Classics, at the location by Almeda Mall.  They provided his-and-hers leather jackets, his-and-hers leather ride vests, and his-and-hers baseball caps.  Thank you to Pam and Renegade Classics!  Their sponsor link will go up on our links page.

We have a meeting today at 10 AM to go over some of the event finalization, and a meeting with Cissy with Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital tomorrow.  They have a civic association wanting to volunteer at the event.  We also have a Friendswood High School outreach club wanting to volunteer.

The Biker Church of Manvel said they are all-in.  They're going to have a booth and do bike blessings, as well as provide the pre-ride benediction.

Also Mary Sit with METRO Media wants to interview one of us for a vlog feature.

Goodness, things happening so fast it's tough to keep track of it all.

It is with our heartfelt condolences that we acknowledge the family of Officer Craig Lee, in thinking of others in their time of grief.  They have asked donations be made to METRO Blue Santa in lieu of flowers.

We cannot express both our sorrow for Officer Lee's loss and our gratitude to them for their kindness.

We want to assure contributors, as with all donations we receive, every dime either goes directly to the children, or to purchase things like raffle items to make more money for the children.  Your contributions are respected; METRO Blue Santa is an all volunteer organization.

Our monthly meeting was yesterday, and we covered many topics!  It was a productive session.

The main topic, our raffle item this year will be an RCA 46" LCD flat panel High Definition TV.  It's a beauty, with 5000:1 contrast ratio, and a 120Hz refresh rate.  This really is a top of the charts home theater item.  Tickets can be purchased from any of the MBS board members, or if you make a contribution using PayPal (follow the Contribution tab above) and shoot us an email, we can fill out your ticket for you and mail you the stubs.  The tickets are $5 each, or 5 tickets for $20.  The drawing will be on November 12, at the MC rally.

Been in slow-mode for the last couple of months as the candy sales wind down.  We've made about $400 just having candy boxes sit on desks.  Not bad!  We're starting to ramp up the planning for the benefit motorcycle rally this fall.  The date and location information are linked on the Benefit Ride tab above.

We have received sponsorship commitment from Republic Harley Davidson, 12707 Southwest Fwy, Stafford, TX 77477, ph 281-295-1000, http://republichd.com/.  Among other things, Republic GM Slojak is going to be providing us radio plugs on AM 700 KSEV on his biker show "American Revival", so we're really looking forward to that as the event time comes closer.

We've also received sponsorship commitment from Bub's Sports Bar, 2200 N Highway 35 Bypass, Alvin.  They're going to be providing us all of the drinks we need to sell at the event food court.

We will have ride shirts for sale at the motorcycle rally.  They're going to be black, with a native American pattern on the front (I won't spoil the t-shirt debut), and the METRO Blue Santa ride and sponsor information on the back.  We're also considering a polo shirt design for sale to all of the office personnel downtown.  Kicking it around...

Stay tuned.  More coming.

We have finally received our determination letter from the IRS, and are officially a 501(c)(3) organization.  Big step, yay!

We're now working on getting on METRO's payroll deduction, so that it's easier to contribute to the organization.

The meeting for April will be on the 12th at the Buffalo Bayou facility.  We're going to start planning really strong for the motorcycle rally in September or October, to include setting a date, start and stopping points, awards, vendors and the like, so we welcome everyone to attend and provide input for this event.