Cruise for a Cause supports county's foster families

RIO RANCHO — The parking lot of Vision City Church was full of games, cars, music, raffles and more Saturday afternoon for the second annual Cruise for a Cause Community Carnival.

“We’ve got jumpers for the kids, food ... It’s an outreach event to bring the community together,” said Juan Ayala, a member of the church’s Men of Liberty group as well as a master sergeant in the New Mexico National Guard.

“It’s an outreach event to bring the community together. We want to meet the community and have them come by and meet us,” said Graham Mayfield, also a member of the men’s group.

While admission to the event was free, money was being raised during the event from the sales of food, raffle tickets and participation in the dunk tank. Many attendees took up the opportunity to attempt dunking pastors from the church.

Proceeds from the event, Ayala and Mayfield said, will be donated to foster families in Sandoval County. Last year, for the inaugural event, Independence High School was the beneficiary, they said.

In addition to the activities, a few vendors were set up in the parking lot, including the Air National Guard and Walmart, which donated school supplies to the event, which will also be given to the foster families.

The Guard’s participation, Ayala said, was to show “we’re here in the community” while noting that all the members present are New Mexico residents. The members on hand were from the Red Horse Combat Engineers, he said.

Attendees could also walk the parking lot, checking out the variety of cars and motorcycles participating in the car show portion of the event. Ayala said hosting the car show in conjunction with what they like to call “4C” “helps get people out and involved,” noting that participants were from a variety of car clubs in Rio Rancho and Albuquerque.

All in all, the day appeared to be a success. Mayfield said they estimated 1,000 people came out for last year’s event and that they seemed to be close to the same number Saturday.

And they had perfect weather for the event. Book-ended with a Friday that saw athletic events postponed due to weather and a stormy Sunday, they saw clear skies and comfortable temperatures.

“I got a little nervous yesterday,” Ayala admitted while observing Saturday’s ideal weather conditions.