Published November 25. 2025 12:03PM<\/p>\n
The 15th annual Tucker\u2019s Toy Run Nov. 1 delivered thousands of toys to the St. Luke\u2019s pediatric unit in its final year of existence. About 800 to 900 bikers made their final trek from the Tri-Boro Sportsmen Club in Northampton through several municipalities ending at the St. Luke\u2019s Bethlehem campus in Fountain Hill. A large trailer and small bus were packed with toys donated by the participants.<\/p>\n
Over the 15 years, the event has raised $550,000 and delivered over 60,000 toys, which are handed out to pediatric patients at various St. Luke\u2019s facilities, according to organizer Rick Nauman.<\/p>\n
Riders come from the greater Lehigh Valley, eastern Pennsylvania and other states. Tara Kessler says she rode 180 miles from Virginia to participate. \u201cI hope that we\u2019ve inspired somebody else to do something,\u201d says Kessler.<\/p>\n
Nauman has coordinated Tucker\u2019s Toy Ride with pediatrics patient care manager Patricia Gubich for years. Gubich, says she\u2019s \u201chappy and sad\u201d that the initiative has come to an end. \u201cI\u2019m happy that they\u2019ve supported us for 15 years and sad that it\u2019s the final run,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Rider Lori Harter from Northampton agreed. \u201cThis charity is the best charity and we love doing it every year,\u201d she says, noting she has participated in at least 12 of them.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a big undertaking,\u201d says Nauman, who became emotional while addressing everyone present. \u201cIt\u2019s emotional and it\u2019s bittersweet,\u201d he added. \u201cThe biker community is phenomenal,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
While hundreds of bikers milled around enjoying beverages and snacks served by volunteers at St. Luke\u2019s, others unloaded thousands of toys into carts and cribs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\/re going to miss it,\u201d said father and daughter bikers Brianna Necessary and Dave Heffner from Catasauqua and Slatington. \u201cThis was father and daughter bonding for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wendy Lazo, president of the St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network Bethlehem campus, marveled at the impact and level of participation from the biker community. \u201cI have no words,\u201d said Lazo, \u201cthis is absolutely incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tucker\u2019s Toy Run has operated under the umbrella of the non-profit Lehigh Valley Community Benefit. The organization has provided assistance to people in need, public safety agencies and others through its fundraising efforts, which include a Harley-Davidson motorcycle raffle done in conjunction with the run.<\/p>\n
Nauman began the toy run in memory of his friend Tucker Stuart, who was killed in a motorcycle accident in 2011. Tucker\u2019s Toy Run has grown from an initial 60 or so motorcycles into the highly impactful support provided by nearly 1,000 motorcycle riders.<\/p>\n
The 15th Tucker\u2019s Toy Run logo on a sweatshirt worn by organizer Rick Nauman.<\/p>\n
Pediatrics patient care manager displays a patch that was given to toy run participants.<\/p>\n
The Boandl family came bearing toys to donate and to watch Tucker\u2019s Toy Run arrive. They live in Salisbury Township.<\/p>\n
Tucker\u2019s Toy Run organizer Rick Nauman leads the procession as it arrives at St. Luke\u2019s.<\/p>\n
One motorcycle passenger records the procession as it turns into the St. Luke\u2019s main entrance parking lot.<\/p>\n
Young volunteers help unload donated toys from a small transport bus.<\/p>\n
The father and daughter duo of Brianna Necessary and Dave Heffner have participated for at least 10 years. \u201cWe\u2019re going to miss it,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
Michele Bunce & Lori Harter from Northampton have ridden in the majority of the toy runs.<\/p>\n
Carts are filled with thousands of donated toys destined to be given to pediatric patients.<\/p>\n
St. Luke\u2019s representatives gave a $400 check to Tucker\u2019s Toy Run from<\/p>\n
press photos by Dana GrubbTucker\u2019s Toy Run organizers, participants, public safety supporters, and St. Luke\u2019s staff pose for a group photo. to commemorate the final run.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published November 25. 2025 12:03PM The 15th annual Tucker\u2019s Toy Run Nov. 1 delivered thousands of toys to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44687,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120],"class_list":{"0":"post-44686","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-allentown","8":"tag-allentown","9":"tag-allentown-headlines","10":"tag-allentown-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}