Over 120 riders participated in the 22nd annual Charity Motorcycle Ride for Lansdowne Kids on Saturday, July 4, 2026.
Kicking off from the Airport Community Centre in Oakhill, the rumbling vehicles could be heard from down the road as riders took off on their 90-minute, police escorted scenic tour through Brant, Haldimand and Norfolk counties, before returning back to the starting line for the remainder of the festivities.
This year’s event included food from Strodes BBQ and Deli, a 50/50 draw, and live entertainment from BarCode.
Bob Caissie, a long-time volunteer for Lansdowne Children’s Centre, first started the event over 20 years ago to help raise funds for the organization’s greatest needs, and since then it’s continued to support the local organization year after year.
After years of being organized by the Lansdowne Children’s Centre Foundation, Brian Kinrade and Ensuring Brant, a not-for-profit community association of volunteers, took over the event last year.
“Bob did this for 20 years, and with him retiring, we didn’t want to let his hard work go to waste,” said Kinrade. “He really laid down the foundation for this event for two decades, so it wasn’t hard for us to pick everything up and run with it. Lansdowne does a lot for the community and the kids benefit from this, so it means a lot to be able to give back.”
Lynda Henriksen, Lansdowne’s Director of Development and Community Relations, said the funds will ultimately help support a variety of the centre’s programs and services.
“Proceeds from the event will go to programs and services at Lansdowne for children with physical, emotional and developmental needs, and specifically for programs that are underfunded or receive no funding at all,” she said. “That includes recreation therapy programs like our Every Kid Counts camp, which gives kids the opportunity to be included in community activities that they may not necessarily be able to participate in without that support. In addition to that, it will also help with our family wraparound supports, including respite care and our Family Engagement program, which gives caregivers and families the chance to connect and have that peer support, and be able to have, through respite care, an opportunity to be able to exhale.”
Henriksen said fundraising events like the ride, and the community support that comes with it, play a critical role in helping Lansdowne meet the needs of thousands of children and families across the region.
“If we didn’t have community support like this, we wouldn’t be able to continue to meet the complex needs that we see,” she said. “This past year, more than 4,300 children were directly involved in our programs and services. When you include the wraparound supports, as well as those families and clients that are in the process of getting their formal assessments, we actually served over 6,000 families, not only in Brantford, but in Simcoe, Dunnville and in Caledonia.”
Both Henriksen and Lansdowne Executive Director Rita-Marie Hadley, said they appreciated Kinrade and Ensuring Brant for continuing the event.
“We are so grateful to Ensuring Brant for putting this event on on our behalf and for embracing the goodwill of motorcycle riders who supported us for years when it was our own in-house event,” said Hadley. “There’s a lot of familiar faces here that have been with us throughout the years, and we are aware of people who have been with us since the beginning and can no longer do it because of their age, so it is with great delight that we’re seeing new cohorts joining us.”
New to this year’s ride were Chris and Danette Grant. The two said they were excited to be involved.
“We’ve known about the ride for quite a while, but we just started riding a couple years ago,” said Chris.
“We decided to do it this year, and it looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun. We’re looking forward to the rollout,” added Danette with a smile. “My grandson benefits from Lansdowne, and I couldn’t be more proud or happy to be involved and supporting such a great organization.”
Henriksen later added the event was a great representation of what can be accomplished when the community comes together.
“When the community comes together, magic happens. We’re deeply grateful for Ensuring Brant, the volunteers, every supporter, all the pre-registered riders, Strodes and our other sponsors, as well as police from Waterloo, Peel, and Brantford-Brant, who have shown up to continue this legacy,” she said. “What this represents is a community that reflects the core values of Lansdowne; it’s all about connection, compassion and care, and we absolutely love it when people come and join us in that.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
