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LaFAYETTE — The Auburn Gunners, Captain Fuller’s Ride and the Alabama Widows Motorcycle Riding Club are combining forces to have a Motorcycle Ride and Family Fun Day on Saturday, July 24.

“Anything that’s street legal can join in the ride,” Candy Miles told The Valley Times-News. “It’s a benefit for the surviving members of the Tallapoosa County Girls Ranch. It will start at 9 a.m. Central Time at Reeltown High School.”

Street legal vehicles include motorcycles, cars and trucks.

Registration for the multi-vehicle parade will be taking place at the school on the morning of the event. The route will go from the school to the Girls Ranch.

“Even if you don’t participate in the ride we’d like for you to be there for the 1 p.m. Family Fun Day,” Miles said. “We will have all kinds of events for kids. Farmer Brown will have a petting zoo, we’ll have face painting and Ballard’s Party Rentals will be there with inflatables and a water slide for kids.”

A t-shirt is being made to benefit the ranch. It will list a total of 30 sponsors, most of whom are from Chambers County.

“We should have them in 10 days,” Miles said. “The sponsors have combined to give over $20,000 to the ranch.”

Family Fun Day at the Girls Ranch will go from 1 to 4 p.m. CDT on July 24.

Eight children with ties to the Girls Ranch died in a multi-vehicle accident on I-65 on June 19. They were returning to the ranch after a fun outing on the beach. The kids taking part went down and came back in separate vans. One van made it back without incident, but the second one got caught up in the accident.

Ranch Director Candace Gulley, who was driving, was knocked unconscious but was pulled to safety by bystanders. She has a long road to full recovery but recently took part in an event at the ranch. Tragically, she lost two children and two nephews in the wreck. Four girls from the ranch also died.

Founded in 1973, the ranch is for girls who have been abused, neglected or abandoned by their parents through no fault of their own. Living at the ranch gives them a chance to have a better life. There are three homes on the ranch, each with two Christian house parents. Up to seven girls live in each home. They learn to live as sisters with no one wanting to let their sister down.