The 5th Annual Nature Coast Toys for Tots Ride raised $16,631 to be used to purchase toys for children in the tri-county area of Levy, Dixie and Gilchrist counties.

Of that amount, $10,270 was cleared on the raffle of a new Toys for Tots bike built by Gulf Coast Sledz, after the bills were paid for building it. Gulf Coast Sledz donated the 400 hours of build time for the bike valued at $32.000.

The bike was won by James Stenvall of Summerfield. He was driving home from a car show when Ride founder Bill Hutchinson called with the news. “I feel like I am walking in a dream. I was driving in my car when you called and had to pull off of the road due to my excitement,” Stenvall said. He picked up the bike on Saturday, just hours after the winning ticket was drawn.

Tri-County Toys for Tots collected $1,845 in toys from the riders. The ride, party at Charlie's Bar in Cross City, T-shirt sales and donations cleared $4,516.

Hutchinson, who has coordinated the ride every year, listed the donors, including: Gulf Coast Sledz, the Rick Gordon Band, The Salt Water Cowboys and Steel Bridge band, Food Land of Cross City for the chickens and roasts, Gustafson's for the chocolate milk, BBQ Bill's of Chiefland for the baked beans, Akins BBQ of Bell for the coleslaw, DugOut Sports Grill for also donating coleslaw, Winn Dixie of Chiefland for the potato salad, Charlie's for being the party hosts again and BubbaQue's for hosting the start of the race.

Also Toys for Tots received escorts from the Sheriff's Offices in Levy, Dixie and Gilchrist counties and the citizen's partols in all three counties.