Wheels for Our Wounded - Inaugural Event a Huge Success

I was very gratified on May 30th that we had 120 riders out for our First Wheels for Our Wounded event. We worked with as many of the other events that were going on in the region as we could to support them by having our run go to them.

We stopped in at Edmonton Harley-Davidson and took in the sidewalk sale, then we went to the
Valour Place  & the MattRad Bottle Drive which the CAV and the Veterans MC both support heavily.

Our final stop was the Royal Canadian Legion Cenotaph in Devon, because well, Kate Mac and her team have had phenomenal support from the Legions in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Our group, the VIP pack, also went to the MFRC (Military Family Resource Centre) so Tyler, Kate's 11 year old son could see some of his old neighbours and talk to other kids living with a parent who has PTSD.

Gunny and Paula at the sidewalk sale at Harley-Davidson of Edmonton

The day started out overcast and windy, but the sun did eventually come out and the smiles on everyone's faces said it all.

Kate, Tyler, Gunny, Rebecca and Paula all had seats with local riders and I have to tell you how excited and happy they all were to get in some wind therapy.

Kate riding with Pigg from Rose City Tire in Camrose
No words needed here - the smiles say it all.

Kate's son Tyler got to ride on this gorgeous Indian

L to R Gunny, Paula, Emily & Rebecca on their respective rides

The VIP pack heading out

After the ride, everyone converged back at Blackjacks Roadhouse in Nisku to get their final poker run hand card, partake in the BBQ, bid in the silent auction, eat some cake and listen to Tim Isberg and JP Cormier sing.

There wasn't a dry eye in the house as JP sang "Hometown Battlefield" and then
later "The Long Way Home".

Razor from Biker Radio did the Emcee work for us and did a fabulous job.

Tim Isberg

JP Cormier

Kate with fellow 2 CAV member Bucky Buchanan from Moncton NB in front of the SOT Truck

I can't say enough about Blackjack's Roadhouse & Games Room in Nisku and their staff - not only is the venue ideally located, close to gas and accommodations/camping but the food and service are top drawer. The staff have a friendly CAN DO attitude and the management even more so!  If you are looking for the perfect venue for an event - contact Krysta or Clarence at Blackjack's Roadhouse and & Games Room in Nisku!

It was a most amazing day, not to say it didn't have some hiccups and some frustrations.

Our registration forms were misplaced and took some time to find, but they were found and registrations were only 25 minutes late getting started.

I was frustrated by the Jeep Club that was a no show and a couple of RC's that has said they were bringing about 50 riders each, we went and prepared for the additional crowd which kicked us in the arse, but none the less - 120 bikes is a great turn out for ANY POKER RUN and I am grateful to all who showed up.

Les Shandruk of the Northern Gateway Motorcycle Association in Slave Lake was the High Pledge Earner.

Kate speaking with Les Shandruk of the Northern Gateway Motorcycle Association from Slave Lake

Kate and the team were presented with Pink NGMA Shirts

After the dust settled and all of the bills are paid we raised/donated $4008 to The Long Way Home (through 50/50's pledges, poker run registrations etc) and raised $1,600 for the motorcycle we intend to donate in July.

This photo from Cori at Steel Horses Photography,
all other photos from Sophie Pyne

It's a long ways from the $9999 + Shipping that we need, BUT....

The good news is that we have a TON of challenge coins, pins, patches & medallions to sell to get there!

You can purchase Wheels for Our Wounded Products at: http://www.wheelsforourwounded.ca/shop.html

IMPORTANT:

All of the monies raised will be going to purchase that 750 Street Harley-Davidson motorcycle to present to a veteran who would benefit from having wind therapy. The motorcycle will be presented at the end of July.  Further, if we raise enough, we have an RCMP officer in BC and and EMT in PEI we have on the list to be helped!  The EMT needs a hack for his service dog and the RCMP officer deserves, like our veteran, to be back on a motorcycle!

Our first sister event takes place in August in PEI!
Visit:  Wheels for Our Wounded PEI on Facebook

PLEASE consider helping us by purchasing some swag today and help us help three deserving people get some wind therapy!

I want to thank Sophie Pyne, Kate's Official photographer for the photos you see here and to Cori from Steel Horses Photography in Stony Plain for the photos she took which you can see here at:
Belt Drive Betty's Profile Page on www.beltdrivebetty.com

I want to thank all of our sponsors and volunteers for an amazing show of support - we couldn't have done it without you!

If you are blessed enough to be riding today, please ride like everyone around you is blind and cannot see you.

Belt Drive Betty
Editor & Rider





Disclaimer:
All data and information provided on this site is for informational purposes only. The Belt Drive Betty Blog makes no representations as to accuracy, completeness, currentness, suitability, or validity of any information on this site & will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use. All information is provided on an as-is basis.

Your Invitation....

Our event, Wheels for Our Wounded takes place at Blackjack's Roadhouse in Nisku AB, this weekend - Saturday May 30th and if you live within a day's ride, you are INVITED....

Wheels for Our Wounded is all about helping veterans, soldiers and first responders who need help to have a vehicle modified to accommodate their new normal, be it putting a side car on a motorcycle so that a service dog can go with that person, all the way to buying or assisting with modifying a vehicle to make it wheelchair accessible.

The Federal and Provincial governments look at vehicles as a luxury. If you can't take public transit, then you need a prescription to get help and even then, the help offered to make a vehicle wheelchair accessible is only $5K from the Federal Government.

There is NO help to covert a motorcycle to accommodate a side car or  make it into a trike.

You and I, we who ride, know that a motorcycle or trike can be a sanity line for many. Just look how many veterans, solders and first responders ride - they will all tell you that wind therapy is a valid therapy - yet no one in "power" sees it.

We also know that wheels mean a certain freedom and independence.

Our first recipient for this very special, newly founded event is a veteran.  This veteran will get their motorcycle in BC during Wounded Warriors Weekend Week. This veteran by all accounts, is one of the most giving and compassionate people out there and would never ask for help for themselves.

It's hard to raise funds for an anonymous face....it's hard for people to wrap their head around supporting someone who is incognito but I promise you this much, when this veteran gets their new wheels, you are going to see someone with a grin from ear to ear who is then going to be pissed because "I don't need your charity" is this person's mindset.
And then that grin will return.

You will get to "MEET" this veteran through photos and videos of them getting their bike - I PROMISE.


We need to keep this person anonymous until they get their bike, we have to for their sake. If they found out what we were doing for them, well let's just say pride goeth before a fall and so, until its a done deal, we are keeping a lid on the recipient's name.

I promised that the help I got last year from this community, I would find a way to pay forward ten fold....and because of the support of great volunteers and supporters the intent now is to pay that kindness, that help forward a hundred fold.

Rob Truscott, JM McKinney, Les Shandruk and the gang from the Northern Gateway Motorcycle Association, 1st, 2nd, 3rd C.A.V. and C.A.V. National, Cindy Irvine, Rob Himmelspach, Blackjack's Roadhouse, Edmonton Harley-Davidson, Mountainview Harley-Davidson, JP Cormier and Tim Isberg, Cori from Steel Horses Photography, IOMC, RCL Legion Riders, all of the volunteers who will be running booths and helping with registrations etc,  (some 70 of them), the 40 or so sponsors we have, the team at Belt Drive Betty Media, Pat Varga, Cindy Murphy, all of these good people and SOOOO many more are the reason I/WE can host this event - without the aforementioned team  - I AM all but powerless....but as a community we are SOOOO powerful and everyone has worked so hard to get us here...

Our special guest is Kate MacEachern, the gal who has been walking with a 45 lbs rucksack on her back to create awareness of PTSD, to create discussion, healing and raise funds for service dogs and Wounded Warriors Weekend...

As a team, our intent is to show this woman the best in hospitality, generosity and compassion and create the best fund and awareness raising opportunity that we can.

We intend to give her voice the audience it deserves, because she speaks for so many who can't speak for themselves...

Folks, on Saturday, she and the NASH Project will be 30 days into their journey of healing! They still have many miles to traverse - let's give them the support and send off they need to keep putting one boot, one hoof infant of the other.

PLEASE, join us, RAIN OR SHINE - we won't make fun of you for showing up in a cage (much)...we NEED your support, so we can support those who need it.

It costs on average, $5,000 to put a service dog into the care and control of a soldier, veteran or first responder that needs one.

It's going to cost $12,000 to give a veteran their sanity line back in the way of a motorcycle...

Without YOU - all of the work of our volunteers, all of the support of our sponsors, will be for naught.  So PLEASE, come out, meet our team, ride/drive the poker run route, come eat some BBQ, listen to some great tunes , see what the vendors offer and most of all support those who rush in when everyone pulls back...

Fire Fighters in Grande Prairie doing their job last weekend

Our Fire Fighters (God Love them, the wildfire situation is desperate), our EMS who deal with the trauma and aftermath of some of the most horrific events you can imagine, the same for the police services, I may not always like some of their members, damned they do a job I couldn't...

Our soldiers and veterans - their jobs are critical to our well being as a nation...

Your support means everything and not just to us, the Wheels for Our Wounded team, but to Kate Mac & The Long Way Home Team, the NASH Project , Alpha K9, Paws Fur Thought, Valour Place & the Mattradd fundraiser as well as Wounded Warriors Weekend - in all your donations, your participation in the poker run, the silent auctions and 50/50 draws, the pledge challenge - will be helping 7 organizations provide outreach.

Visit www.wheelsforourwounded.ca  visit the sponsors page, the supporters page, read about Kate Mac and TLWH 2015, the NASH Project, Wounded Warriors Weekend...and then please, be motivated enough that no matter WHAT MOTHER NATURE throws our way this weekend...please come out.

On Sunday May 31st join us for a Bikers Breakfast at Blackjacks from 8am to 9:30 AM and help us send Kate of in Grande style...she will leave while we are eating breakfast and we will then catch up to her at the Royal Canadian Legion in Leduc where we will share one final hug, one final thank you and send her and the NASH Project on their way to Chilliwak - over the Coquihalla...for Kate and the Trans Canada trail for the horse team.

Our soldiers, our veterans and our first responders don't back out of doing their jobs if it rains, snows, hails, floods...please don't let them down if Mother Nature decides to be a bag...

DRIVE, RIDE or DOG SLED in - but please, come out and support these important causes...

Thanks folks and if you are blessed to be riding today, please remember to ride like everyone around you is blind and cannot see you.

Belt Drive Betty
Editor & Rider

The Kick Off for the Long Way Home 2015

David Reed

The day before the event at Government House in Regina Saskatchewan, the three teams involved in this, the final walk for Kate called "The Long Way Home 2015" converged at the home of David & Danielle Reed.

David Reed is an Aide de Camp to the Lieutenant Governor General and was in charge of the honour guard at Government House.

The 3 teams involved in the Long Way Home 2015 are The Wounded Warriors Weekend Foundation team, The N.A.S.H. Project and of course Kate MacEachern's team.

The Reeds with a welcome
sign made by their children

Her Honour with the puppy

As a benefactor of Kate's walk, Wounded Warriors Weekend Foundation has helped the cause by getting sponsors for a truck and tailer, helping to set up some of the events along the route and taking care of a lot of other small details.

Danielle Reed (L) Heather Salloum (B)
Her Honour (R)

The N.A.S.H. Project, which is also one of the benefactors of Kate's walk, is joining Kate for the entire trip from Nipawin SK to Chilliwack BC.


Rebecca Santanna, the founder of The N.A.S.H. Project and her daughter Emily will be riding horses in the ditch beside Kate.

A very proud and honoured Kate

Their driver and support person Lisa Peterson will be ensuring the horse team will have everything they need while on this journey. There are 4 horses that will be being sharing the trail duties.


Kate MacEachern's team includes Paula DeLorey, Kate's medic, Sophie Pyne, Kate's photographer, JoAnne Power-Gilliland, known as Gunny, Kate's Driver and Kate's son Tyler, who is joining his mother for the first 30 days of her journey.  Also in Kate's entourage, her father Hugh and her aunt, Linda and myself (I am Kate's Ops Manager).

The Wounded Warriors Weekend Foundation team, also benefactors of Kate's walk, includes Blake Emmons, the founder of the Wounded Warriors Weekend, Pat Varga who is heading up the "events" team, Brenda Frederickson, also on the "events" team, Verda Hoppe along with a whole host of volunteers.

The woman who is responsible for ensuring the media knows about all three teams and their roles is Cindy Murphy, who is a fabulous publicist.

The BBQ hosted by David and Danielle was not only a fantastic time but a wonderful  opportunity for everyone from the three teams to meet face to face,

A huge surprise awaited Kate!

Heather Salloum, the executive director of the Lieutenant Governor's office and Vaughn Solomon Schofield, the Lieutenant Governor General of Saskatchewan came for the BBQ and Her Honour presented Kate with the Lieutenant Governor General's Service Pin and right on the heels of that, she presented Kate with a replica of her Diamond Jubilee medal which had been stolen a couple of years ago.

Ken Madraga of Melody Ford
presenting Kate the keys

Kate was emotional and understandably so.

After the fantastic meal that Reed's hosted, the teams headed to the Ramada Inn Regina to get rested and ready for the big day at Government House.

Before we could head to Government House the next morning, Ken Madraga of Melody Ford in Melfort Saskatchewan presented Kate and her team with an F250 Crew Cab to use as the tow rig for her journey.  It was a moment that I am sure no one, especially Kate will forget.

The weather was picture perfect on April 29th and Government House was filled with excitement, pomp and pageantry.

The horses of the N.A.S.H. Project had their own pen right out front of Government House and the media scrum that would be held after the reception was held beside their pen.

After a wonderful luncheon, the ceremony began, with Her Honour coming through not one, but two honour guards.

Vaughn Solomon Schofield and her right hand gal Heather had invited 9 chiefs to attend the ceremony/reception for Kate and the teams and out of 9, 8 of them came! The ninth chief wanted to attend but she was out of country at a conference.

The Army, Navy, Air Force, RCMP, Municipal Police and EMS chiefs for the province of Saskatchewan were all there.

After hearing the moving speech from Her

Honour, the cutest little gal named Destiny presented the Lieutenant Governor General with the puppy that the N.A.S.H. Project donated to the province of Saskatchewan to be trained as a service dog.  Her Honour dubbed him "Ruff Rider". The puppy, a Mastiff- Great Dane cross was oblivious to all of the happiness and joy he brought to the day.






We got to hear from Rebecca of the N.A.S.H. Project and why therapy horses and service dogs are so successful in helping those with PTSD.


Next up was Blake Emmons of the Wounded Warriors Weekend Foundation.

He spoke of the power of camaraderie, common experience and the healing that provides those with PTSD.

Then came Corporal Kate MacEachern Ret'd who delivered a moving and passionate speech on PTSD and what the walk means to her, her fellow sufferers/survivors and her team.

As we all watched this amazing young woman speak, the sense of anticipation, the challenge, the heartache and the triumph that lays ahead was palpable.

"Untied We Stand, Divided We Don't Stand a Chance" is the line she closed with.

It was a fitting train of thought to end the reception on.

The media scrum that followed lasted about an hour and a half with media from all over Saskatchewan interviewing the two road team members. Dixon Christie, producer and videographer of "Battle Scars" who is filming for a documentary on Kate's walk was on hand interviewing the various team members as well.

As Kate's Ops Manager, it was hard to say goodbye to everyone on the teams, but they had a good four hour drive ahead of them to get to Nipawin, the home of the Wounded Warriors Weekend and Kate's step off location.

As I got on a plane to head back to Grande Prairie, the two road teams were busy packing their gear into a toy hauler provided by Chegus RV in Watson SK.

I am told that the pancake breakfast hosted by the Town of Nipawin and their Legion was huge success and we know that Kate, Rebecca and Emily made it to their first overnight stop in Love SK.

It takes a lot of people to organize an event of this magnitude and every person who has been involved has stepped up in stellar fashion.

As Kate walks from Nipawin SK to Chilliwack BC, Rebecca and Emily of the N.A.S.H. Project will be ditch riding along with her and the walk and ride will culminate at this year's location for the Wounded Warriors Weekend - Chilliwack BC.

The ladies of these two teams have a long and arduous journey ahead of them, they will walk and ride through all of Mother Nature's changing moods and hopefully you will come out to meet them, support them and donate to the cause.

You can follow their journey and donate to the cause by visiting www.thelongwayhome.ca  
If you want to join Kate along the way, you will have to sign a waiver which can be downloaded on the website.

For media inquiries you can contact Cindy Murphy at: dcmurphey@sasktel.net

All photos by Sophie Pyne - Official Photographer for The Long Way Home.

If you are blessed to be riding today, please ride like everyone around you is blind and cannot see you.

Belt Drive Betty
Editor & Rider
Ops Manager, The Long Way Home 2015



Disclaimer:
All data and information provided on this site is for informational purposes only. The Belt Drive Betty Blog makes no representations as to accuracy, completeness, currentness, suitability, or validity of any information on this site & will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use. All information is provided on an as-is basis.