Tractor Run Raises Funds
Dale Thompson and his sister Diane Midkiff welcomed a crowd to the 14th Annual Floyd County Tractor Fun Run Saturday morning at the Thompson family farm on Christiansburg Pike.
“This is going to be a good ride,” Thompson said about the 35-mile tractor run that winds through downtown Floyd and scenic roads in the county.
Each year Fun Run coordinators choose a child in the county with medical issues and donate proceeds from the ride – $15 for drivers and riders over 14 – to help the child’s family with medical expenses.
This year’s ride was for Avery Joe Link, a baby girl who has a rare genetic disorder called Apert Syndrome.
Speaking into a microphone, Thompson introduced Avery’s family, saying, “I can see this child has a lot of support and love.” He spoke of the privilege of helping children with health challenges with the Fun Run over the years. “Thank you for coming out for this ride and this child,” he said to the crowd.
Both Thompson and Midkiff choked up when speaking of their father, Arlie Thompson, who passed away last fall. Arlie Thompson opened his farm for the Fun Run since it started in 2007.
He was “instrumental” in making the ride happen each year. “He’d mow this field and come out to work,” Thompson said about his father, a WWII veteran who was 98 when he passed.
Thompson and Fun Run co-founder Larry Bishop went on a tractor ride in Pulaski and got the idea to bring something similar to Floyd as a charitable event more than a decade ago.
Since the Ride began, over $81,000 has been raised, the Fun Run’s Facebook page reports.
In year’s past, a community lunch was provided, but due to Covid-19, participants were asked to bring their own lunches for the 2021 Ride.
Bishop led attendees in a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance before about 65 tractors, many pulling trailers full of riders, headed out in a line, waving to onlookers as they passed.
Following the fundraising Ride, Avery’s mother Jessica Link thanked the community on behalf of herself, Avery’s father Matt Link, her sister Emory Clark and her grandparents in a Facebook Post: “I’m truly touched today. There are no words to describe how blessed we feel to have such a wonderful community here in Floyd. All of the wonderful souls who put these benefits together every year, they deserve the biggest thank you. Along with all the people who come out and support the children. Our little Avery is so loved.”
Link, who is a nurse at Floyd’s Tri-Area Community Health Clinic, reported that Avery will begin her first step in her Apert journey with a first surgery on September 1. “We have a great team of surgeons at John Hopkins that we met and feel confident in the plan they have put out in front of us. As it is a long one, we know all of our prayer warriors will be behind us, giving us the strength to get through every step of the way,” she wrote. _______Colleen Redman
Read about the 2012 Tractor Fun Run HERE.
