By Donna Riley-Lein
Independent Staff Writer

If you were on the roads in the area you probably saw them. Or heard them. Four thousand motorcycles of all types makes plenty of “heavy metal thunder.”

That thunder was music to the ears Mary Carolyn McDaniel. She’s one of the founders and a director of the Rileigh and Raylee Foundation, which sponsored a weekend of concerts, and a bike show at and of course, the signature motorcycle ride.

The Rileigh and Raylee Foundation raises money to help area children with special needs. According to McDaniel, the foundation helps with things that regular medical insurance does not cover.

“We find that the family is so concerned about their children’s illness,” said McDaniel. She added that the foundation, for example, helps with car rental to get to a medical appointment in a far-off town.

According to the group’s Web site, the mission of the group is to “... provide financial assistance to families of children with unforeseen health problems.” The site goes on to say that the problem and need has to be documented by outside sources. There’s full information and an application on the Web site, www.angel-ride.com.

McDaniel knows about those “unforeseen problems” first hand She’s the grandmother of Rileigh Glass, who has Down Syndrome, which often causes mental retardation and a number of physical disorders. She has required several surgeries to become the healthy and happy Fairhope first-grader she is now.

“She’s doing great,” said McDaniel.

The foundation’s other namesake, Raylee Odom, has muscular dystrophy. There are many types of MD, which usually involves progressive weakening of the muscles. On the Saturday of the ride, Raylee was seen giving a youngster a ride on the back of his motorized wheelchair. Of course Raylee was trying (not very hard) to “clothesline” his passenger on a low-hanging tree branch, delighting both laughing boys.

While McDaniel does not ride a motorcycle herself, she says that Dr. Albert Cote, chairman of the board of the Rileigh and Raylee Foundation does, and he suggested a motorcycle ride as a fundraiser.

“We started as a one-day event,” said McDaniel, adding that the event has grown to two days, and moved to its current location after outgrowing its first location.

“We had about 1.000 in attendance the first year,” said McDaniel. “According to published reports, about 4,000 riders took part in this year’s ride. McDaniel estimated there were about 7,000 people in attendance. The foundation was set up in 2001.

Joy Kenney of Robertsdale and her husband, Mike,are two of the more than 250 volunteers who make the fundraiser happen.

“This is a good organization ito be involved with,” said Joy, who teaches kindergarten at Elberta Elementary.

“It’s a great cause,” added Mike.

Alison Welch, who teaches pre-K classes at Elberta Elementary has her own reasons for volunteering. She’s seen the foundation’s work firsthand.

“We have a paraprofessional (at the school), Josette Knight. Her daughter has heart disease and they’ve needed to go to California for surgeries. She’s extremely grateful,” said Welch.

For Katelynn Knowles, the foundation has been a lifesaver. She’s 13 now, but when she was eight years old, she began having headaches. Bad headaches. According to her grandmother, Theresa Mixon, a growth was “eroding her skull.”

“Her mom is an orthopedic nurse,” said Mixon. “They went to Texas and the doctors there has no clue. They sent her back on a morphine drip and told us to prepare.”

But then the family learned about Dr. George Jallo at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. Jallo is an associate Professor of Neurosurgery, Pediatrics and Oncology at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Md.

“Katelynn’s mom sent her chart to Dr. Jallo, and he said to come on up,” said Mixon.

It took the Rileigh and Raylee Foundation, Angel Flight and other groups to get Katelynn up to Maryland, but it has worked.

So far, Katelynn has been doing well, but is scheduled to go back and see Jallo early next year. The headaches are coming back. She was scheduled to ride on the back of her grandfather’s Honda. Knowles was going to wear a pink fur helmet.

“She played hooky from school, aid Mixon. It’s been exciting,”

For the riders, the event is a chance to hang out with like-minded folks and showing off their beloved bikes was good enough cause.

That was the case for Jim and Debi Munsey of Robertsdale. Debi, who owns a pet grooming salon has been “riding all my life,” and Jim, a former nuclear sub engineer has been riding for a number of years. They entered their blue Harley, complete with side car into a competition.

“We do this just to help out,” said Jim.

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