DECATUR — Firefighters and Bikers will be having a good time while raising money to help children during the first annual Wyatt Hopkins Memorial Poker Run on May 1.

The event is sponsored by the Decatur Fire Department and 100 percent of the profits will go to the Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, according to Decatur fire chief David Flynt.

Wyatt Hopkins was the son of Decatur firefighter Brent Hopkins and his wife Sara. He was also the grandson of retired firefighter Rob Hopkins. Wyatt was born at the Arkansas Children’s Hospital last spring and lived only a few days.

Firefighters came up with the idea for the poker run, not only to honor Wyatt’s memory but also to help other children who face serious health challenges.

The Arkansas Children’s Hospital offers families an amazing level of support, as well as the latest medical technology, Rob Hopkins explained.

“Through a fireman’s son being lost, other children can be helped,” he said.

“We wanted to do this for a number of reasons. It (the illness and loss of a child) affected our fire department family,” Flynt said, “We saw how it affected us. We can only imagine how it effects other families, and we wanted to help them.”

Since the department began planning the poker run, another firefighter’s child has faced a serious illness and was treated at the Arkansas Children’s Hospital, Flynt said. This time the story has a happier ending and the child is doing well back at home, he said.

Flynt said he was “blown away” by the many donations that have come in. He was also amazed by the number of people in the local community who have been impacted by the Arkansas Children’s Hospital.

“As we got further into this, we ran across a lot of people that have had a child at the Children’s Hospital or knew someone at the Hospital,” Flynt said.

The poker run will start at the Decatur Fire Department at 9 a.m. and the last rider will leave at 10 a.m. The route will take riders to five different locations on approximately 123 miles of Arkansas and Oklahoma highways and end at Veteran’s Park in Decatur for lunch, live entertainment by Matt Davis and the distribution of door prizes.

Poker hands are $20 for riders and $10 for passengers and will include lunch featuring barbecued beef sandwiches and a T-shirt for the first 200 participants. Those who don’t have motorcycles are welcome to drive the route in an automobile, Flynt said.

A number of door prizes have been donated, including a fully-guided two-day, one-night hunt from Southern Hills Outfitters, gift cards from local motorcycle shops and restaurants, and T-shirts.

For more information, contact the fire department by phone at 752-3912 or by e-mail at decaturfiredept@ hotmail.com. Details are also posted on the 1st Annual Wyatt Hopkins Memorial Poker Run Facebook page.

Community, Pages 2 on 04/21/2010