More kids will be getting more toys this holiday season thanks to the biggest turnout ever for theReindeer Toy Run.

The third annual poker run collected hundreds of toys for kids in Will County, with 175 motorcyclists participating in the event Saturday morning,

event secretary Debbie Albright said.

“I think the weather is a key factor,” she said as people registered for the ride at the American Legion Marne Post 13 in Plainfield. “We’ve never had it this warm before. There are a lot of new faces here today.”

Jill Pondel of Joliet was among them.

“I’m here to help the kids,” she said. “I like riding with other bikers for a great cause.”

Toys will be organized by age for boys and girls, and distributed to SOS Children’s Village in Lockport, the Lockport Fish Food Pantry and elsewhere. Money raised from registration fees and raffles will be used to buy more toys.

“It’s a real good ride, one of the best I’ve ever been on,” Mark Orcutt said. The Woodridge resident has participated in the ride each year.

Following the national anthem and bike blessing, motorcyclists left the American Legion, located at Renwick and River roads, as traffic from the nearby Plainfield Homecoming Parade was starting to slow down.

This year’s 100-mile ride stopped at The Office Bar & Grill in Channahon, Boondocks Food & Spirits in Seneca, Snug Harbor Marina in Marseilles, Fat Daddy’z Bar & Grill in Seneca and Crowd Around Me in Shorewood. It returned to the American Legion for food, raffles and music.

“We re-routed it this year for a nice ride along the river to Seneca,” said Dewey Auten, a Downers Grove resident and one of many volunteers behind the ride, along with his brother Jamie Auten and Jamie’s wife Julie, who serves as vice president.

“I do whatever I’m told,” Jamie “Grouch” Auten, a Vietnam veteran and Lockport resident, said with a smile as he got on his Harley-Davidson Ultra Classic to head to the first stop. “This is a nice turnout today with great weather.”