My Time in Fort McMurray - Part 3

Some of the timings of different shipments and situations get's blurred as the days and nights blended into themselves.  And this story has to kind of jump around a bit - there are just so many stories of people helping out, working together...

On Thursday May 5th, Jeremy Hall and Will Skinner had arrived in the wee hours of the morning.
A lady named Nicole from Slave Lake, had sent up some yoga mats and about 150 Subway sandwiches and cookies with Jeremy. I don't know which of the three things were deemed more welcome by the guys but I do know that nothing went to waste. The cookies were brought out to my quick line and they vanished in the space of a couple of hours.

It was amazing to me to hear the comments about the food we had been handing out and that Jeremy & Will had been cooking.

Those comments were to become even more vocal, more appreciative over the next few days.

There were more and more fire teams moving into the Mac Island base camp.

Everywhere you looked you saw fire teams that represented our province.
Over the course of my time there I saw crews from:
Duchess, Redwater, St. Albert, Calgary, Didsbury, Sundre, Cremona, Fort McKay, Spruce Grove, Stony Plain, Leduc, Leduc County, Tomahawk, High River, Slave Lake, Lesser Slave Lake, Beiseker, Edmonton and on and on - I can't name them all as it became a blur...

All of Alberta it seemed was there - the show of support and solidarity became evident, really fast.

On top of the professional and volunteer teams on the ground there were industrial teams, Syncrude Fire Department, Suncor, Rapid Fire and again, there were so many oilfield fire fighting teams on the ground, I can't remember them all.

I didn't go in there to be a reporter. I went there to be a volunteer and so I never kept notes, and truly didn't use my camera much at all. I was simply too busy doing the job at hand.

When the camp kitchen was brought in late Thursday night early Friday morning, I thought to myself good, the need will drop down to the supplies people needed in their rigs. I was told that this camp kitchen would be making box lunches and serve hot meals.  Surely the pace would slow down some even though there were now somewhere around 500 - 600 fire fighters and equipment drivers calling this camp their base.

Was I wrong about the workload or the pace slowing down?  OH YEAH...

When I made these guys a sandwich, it had two pieces of texas bread, two slices of cheese, mustard, mayo and tucked in the middle was a generous helping of meat, either ham, chicken or roast beef, sometimes I mixed it up and blended meats. These sandwiches were meant to fill people.

I guess I spoiled these guys and gals a bit, at least when it came to sandwiches and coffee!

A lot of the guys were coming to me and asking me to build sandwiches for their fire teams - they called the camp kitchen the "Appy House". I found out quickly what they meant when a whole rack of these sandwiches were sent over to me from the camp. They had one or two thin slices of meat, a piece of cheese on a sub bun. I ended up opening up a lot of these sandwiches and adding more meat and cheese to them for a lot of the guys and gals.  (Some of the other things the camp made however, like the breakfast sandwiches were awesome and I was told they made very good spaghetti.)

The guys and gals, many of them enjoyed the BBQ'd food too and the BBQ ran until 3 and 4 in the morning every day. That didn't change after the camp kitchen came in, many it seemed preferred BBQ food to sit down meals in the camp kitchen.  I guess in many ways, variety was what was needed - choice.

By about 9 pm Friday, I had run out of the sandwich meat we had brought down.  We had brought 4 cases of the three tray packages from Costco, the Kirkland brand with our first load and Jeremy had brought 2 more cases with his load.  Lynda would be bringing me more in the early hours of Saturday morning so until then, I served the sandwiches the camp kitchen had made, often time taking two or three apart to make one larger, heftier sandwich.

Then there was the coffee - ours was strong and full flavoured, the camp's was much mellower than ours and the guys that came to the quick line were quick to comment on the difference.

The one thing I have learned about fire fighters and truck drivers is that they like their coffee strong, strong enough for a spoon to stand up in it!

We had gotten our own coffee makers on Thursday afternoon and we kept our own urns at the station. We were brewing up Folgers Black Silk Coffee - and when we ran out of that we had gotten Nabob coffee, dark roast - all paid for by donations from the motorcycle community.  Culligan was on site delivering water and when they realized what I was going through, they started giving me my own water supply so Matt and others didn't have to run so far to get me a jug. They dropped me a ton of the 5 gallon jugs over the course of Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday! Thank you Culligan!

The great big 50 cup coffee makers took about 2 and a 1/2 hours to make a pot, so I was making coffee with the little 12 cup pots and keeping my urns filled that way. It was a lot of work, but it meant people didn't often have to wait for coffee and it stayed fresh - I don't think a pot ever made it longer than 20 minutes before it was empty!

Here is a comment that Glenn Chaulk (left) wrote on his Facebook Page about the food and coffee :
This Angel goes by 'Belt Drive Betty'. When she heard about the state of emergency in our region, she packed up and pulled out of Grand Prairie for our city. She brought with her every possible safety item we could need. She also cooks and provides much needed home cooking. Her coffee could put Tim Horton's out of business and her personality is second to none. All for the low price of a smile! Belt Drive Betty, you are proof that Angels walk amongst us! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for caring.

Glenn is the man who gave me his personal challenge coin on Saturday. He's with Syncrude Fire Department.

                           
                     






Friday evening, after we ran out of sandwich meat, Matt Coffin manned my station for me and I went and had a cold shower.  Man did it feel good to be clean. My hair was matted and sticky with sweat and ash. It was gross.

It was far easier to keep my outdoor kitchen clean then it was my hair!

We had clorox wipes and I had lots of teflon mats for building sandwiches on and lots of knives that I had brought with me. We'd wash the mats and knives with cold water, then wipe them down with clorox wipes and re rinse with water to get rid of any bleach residue and wipe them down with paper towel.  It wasn't ideal, but it worked well.

I had two portable banquet coolers filled with ice to keep everything fresh.

I had cold bottled water, yogurt and coffee cream at the far end of the station where the coffee urns  and cups were and one on the other end of my station where I made the sandwiches and coffee.
All of the meats, cheese and condiments were kept out of the sun and the heat in that one.

It was a pretty neat little system considering the conditions in which we were working!

Me, well, I finally got a hat given to me on Thursday because no one could find me a pop up tent or a tarp that I could use to stay out of the sun.  I got so hot at one point that I doused myself with water and went and laid on the concrete in the shade until my body temperature went down. It was so bloody hot! On the outskirts of the city the news was saying it was 33 degrees but inside with all of the fires raging around us I am sure the temperature reached 40+ degrees. The air was filled with ash and the burnt needles off of trees. Every time I thought about complaining about the heat I'd think of the teams fighting the beast and shut up.

We still had no gas at the centre so the showers available were all cold and when the hot shower camp arrived Saturday morning, the line ups were LONG! The smiles on the faces of the people coming out of those shacks were priceless and reflected the sense of total contentment that had been found for a few moments.

A laundry shack also arrived on Saturday morning and boy was that a welcome sight, keeping people supplied with clean towels, socks etc had become very, very challenging.

Little things, things we take for granted every day became big things, bonding things and cause for celebration.

More stories to follow....

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


Belt Drive Betty
Editor & Rider

My time in Fort McMurray - Part 2

Brian Jean & Tany Yao from the Wildrose Party

Thursday May 5th was a busy day. After meeting Brian Jean the opposition leader from the Wildrose Party and Tany Yao - the MLA for Wood Buffalo, who came to thank me personally for what I was doing with the quick line and all of the other volunteers who were helping, it was back to work making sandwiches.

Fire truck after fire truck came in and they would load up with supplies and off they went.

The thank you's and hugs for coffee and food were profuse.

There were only 6 core people on the ground at this point helping the first responders: I met Jody Hudek who works for the Suncor Community Centre and Matt Coffin, a resident of Fort Mac whose home was still standing but had no power. I also met a homeless man named Dennis.

Then there was Jeremy Hall, Will Skinner and myself - all from Grande Prairie, all part of the Canadian Motorcycle Community.

The three from Fort Mac, Jody, Matt and Dennis were doing what they could to clean up from the evacuees and sort out what was fit for human consumption and what wasn't.  Some of the fire fighters had scavenged out of the centre but ended up getting sick so we didn't want that happening again.

Jody & Matt also acted as my runners while Lynda grabbed a few hours of shut eye. Her truck was running like crap and Jeremy Hall tried to change filters for her to no avail.  She headed out late on Thursday afternoon after I had a nap and she spent all day Friday at Grande Prairie Chrysler where they changed filters and did an oil change as well as replaced a headlight for her, all free of charge because of her efforts to help the first responders.

She headed back into Fort Mac late on Friday night arriving Saturday morning with another load of much needed supplies, but her truck was sicker than ever.  She headed straight back to Grande Prairie where it was diagnosed that the Bully Dog in her truck had blown up. The Bully Dog is a computer. GP Chrysler ate some of the bill as the Bully Dog was not covered under extended warranty, but it still cost her over $1,500 out of pocket - a bill she could ill afford to pay. I have put in a plea to GP Chrysler and Chrysler Canada to help her out. I sure hope they do as I could not have done what I did if she hadn't run her truck with supplies.

My very first selfie - I was fighting with the camera
to get in all of the boys from the Redwater Fire Dept.
(Redwater is as close to having a hometown as I come.)

With Lynda gone, Thursday and Friday was basically just me on sandwich detail, and I can't count the number of sandwiches I had made by late Friday.

I'd get a call from someone going out to feed guys and gals on the fire line - Betty, I need 40 sandwiches for a crew on Tower Road that hasn't eaten in 24 hours, Betty, I need 150 sandwiches to feed three different crews I am going out to and on and on the day into the night went...Before I knew it, it was Friday morning about 2 am.  A large number of RCMP officers came to my station for coffee and snacks, everyone of them grateful to have this 24 hour station which was lovingly dubbed the Mac's store.

You see by this time we were getting all sorts of supplies.

Mark Lafountaine and his wife who own Screaming' Eagle Oilfield Sales in Whitecourt gathered tons of Beef Jerky, Gatorade, water, foot care products, Visine, headache medications etc., and my friend Dave Perra from Perra Leather Works in St. Albert had driven those supplies in along with some Tobacco products I had sent him the money to purchase. He arrived around 11 pm Thursday night and turned around to head straight back as he had to work Friday morning. His boss would not let him stay to help unless of course Dave wanted to loose his job.

Earlier on Thursday morning a fire crew had asked me if I could by any chance get some chewing tobacco and another crew asked about cigarettes, some about gum.  All of these early first responders had literally dropped everything, grabbed their bunker gear and headed off to Fort Mac - they had very little with them save the clothes on their backs.

So Friday morning when the one crew came in around 2:30 am (about 20 hours after their asking for tobacco and gum, the gent who had asked about chewing tobacco (his crew begging me to do what I could do cause someone was grumpy) sheepishly poked his head around the corner of his fire rig and said "So????"

I whipped out the tobacco and said "So???" His whole crew was hanging out of the windows cheering "YEAH" and he yelled out "I need to marry you!"

We all had a great chuckle and I got some mighty big hugs. It was at this point that I became dubbed "Klinger" (from MASH) - I became their procurement and moral officer!

Throughout the early morning of Friday May 6th, I had crew after crew coming to ask me about a variety of things. Betty, any chance you can get us some toothpaste? How about some moleskin, Gold Bond? How about some batteries, how about....

Little things that they needed and so our shopping list grew.  Baby Powder, under wear, tee shirts, deodorant, allergy medications, sun screen, lip balm, shaving cream, razors....

Some of these people's feet were in such tough shape they could hardly walk and yet they never stopped going back in when called upon.

I coordinated as many of the supplies as I could with my drivers, Jeremy had also been coordinating supplies and Jody did her best along with Matt and Dennis's help to dig through and re-stack all of the evacuee donations and we found some of the stuff the guys and gals needed in those supplies, things like blankets and clothing. Cases of cookies and other non perishables like cereal were found and a microwave was located to make bowls of soup. One microwave to 500 or so people.  It was rough, but we did it.

The Quick line also dubbed the 24 Hour mac's Store on
Thursday morning at about 4 am.

Thursday evening - about 9 pm

2 AM Thursday night

Catching a few minutes - you couldn't really call it sleep

Sleeping accommodations were sparse, many of the folks up there were sleeping in their trucks, rigs, on yoga mats on the ground, couches inside the Suncor Community Centre or simply on sidewalks.

There were few cots left over from the evacuees and I was given one so I could sleep by my station as Lynda was gone with the trailer to fill it up again.  When I did get to sleep it was so cold that I was shivering uncontrollably and an angel, whose name I later learned was Darrel Comeau, also from Grande Prairie, found some blankets and covered me up well - I got 2 wonderful hours of hard sleep after that.

Darrel Comeau took this photo of

me trying to get a bit of sleep 

Friday morning about 7 am

Once we could get into the coolers in the upstairs kitchen, we had access to hot dogs and hamburgers.

There were canned foods but nowhere to cook as the centre had no gas.

Jeremy and Will found a BBQ and some propane and were manning the BBQ from that point on. Dennis, a homeless man worked his arse off and did all of the running for Jeremy and Will.

Baked beans and hot dogs for breakfast, no one minded at all.  Hot food was not something many of them had had since late Monday.

Mid-day on Friday May 6th, Jeremy who has 10 years of oilfield fire fighting experience and a ton of equipment operation experience was asked to man a water truck and later a hoe.

Will in the back manning the BBQ

He was running all over the place helping where he was needed, which left Will running the BBQ. Jody and Matt were perking coffee upstairs and running down carafes and supplies as fast as they could. Dennis was helping Will as much as he could.

Everything that we could lay our mitts to in that centre was put to good use, feeding and hydrating everyone we could.

Now there is something about Will Skinner I want to share with you before I sign off today.

Not all that long ago, last riding season, Will had been hit head on by a texting driver while riding his motorcycle. He had two broken legs, two broken arms and a broken neck.  Yet all through our time together up in Fort Mac, and while I was gone to Two Hills to deliver their trophy and road signs, this man stood in the heat, in the ash, on the pavement, flipping burgers, carving roasts into steaks, boiling potatoes and providing hot meals to as many as that little BBQ and the two warming grills they scrounged could handle.

Everyone was patient and grateful.
AND Will slept in Jeremy's truck too!

This man is more crippled up than I am and yet he did not stop, no matter the pain he was in.

Matt Coffin and I - he was a gem!

The donations kept coming in, either in cash for us to buy what we couldn't get donated or actual supplies that we had put out pleas for.

I need you to understand something - this was very early into the disaster. The city was pretty much empty of people, there were no people in town to support these fire fighters and Fire command had some water and fruit, but nothing else.  If guys couldn't come in from the fire line because they were without fuel, it meant they couldn't get in to grab any of the meagre supplies that were available to them.

When they did finally get fuel thanks to Jessy Kappel, (the volunteer fire fighter from Grovedale) and all of her logistics support, they were some grateful for that first coffee, sandwich etc. that they were able to drive in to get.

Hugs were plentiful, they were about the only thing that were!

If your are blessed enough to be riding today, please remember to ride like everyone around you is blind and can't see you.

Belt Drive Betty
Editor & Rider

My time in Fort McMurray - Part One

I don't know how many parts this series will be.  There are SOOOO many stories I want to share with you. Why? Because this riding community stepped up in ways that have me trembling with pride.

The mainstream media, to this point has purposefully ignored acknowledging the efforts of we riders.

Every time I think about the generosity of the people in my community, both Grande Prairie and the Riding community my heart swells with pride and my eyes fill with tears.

I want to start at the very beginning with how I came to decide on heading to Fort Mac.
Wednesday morning, May 4th at 6 am I was watching the news, I had been feeling so impotent and wanted desperately for there to be something I could do.

Darby Allen, the Fire Chief came on and mentioned his front line responders had no food or water and immediately I knew what I could do.

One phone call, two emails and one Facebook post later and we were on the road to Fort McMurray with what would turn out to be the first of many truckload of supplies that were needed.

Lynda Klouth, the contractor who runs the BKC News Bytes, Grande Prairie and Region agreed to drive me up there with her diesel truck and holiday trailer.

Costco kicked in $350 worth of supplies over and above what we paid for and UFA in Grande Prairie and Athabasca made sure we had fuel....

Jeremy Hall from Ruby Ridge Contracting, a rider with the Condemned Ones MC reached out and said he'd be coming up with supplies but he also had a Fire Fighter out of Grovedale who needed a ride up to Fort Mac.

We picked Jessy Kappel - the Firefighter from Grovedale who has 7 of her blood brothers who were working on the front line - all firefighters!

We headed to Fort Mac with Jessy making calls arranging for fuel and other much needed supports, Lynda driving and me building sandwiches as we went.

We hit the Anzac roadblock at 6pm. The fire was jumping the highway and we could not get in, but we started feeding RCMP officers on the highway - many of them explaining that while there was a camp about 10 KMS away, many of them hadn't eaten in 10 and 12 hours.  Sandwiches, water, fruit and veggie trays were passed out and devoured in short order!

At Azac Road Block

We waited at the roadblock for what felt like forever.
Jessy was chomping at the bit to get these supplies and herself up there to do her logistics and firefighting job.

I forget the exact time when Anzac's Command centre went up in smoke. But we saw all of the evacuation buses and the Black plumes of smoke and then the fire - right beside us on the highway.  The RCMP moved us to the opposite side of the highway heading back south to wait out the evacuation measure, so we watched it all.  It was terrifying.

Evacuation buses for ANZAC

At about 11:30 pm on May 4th we were finally escorted into Mac Island to set up our food station.

The very first firefighter we served was a big man who anchored out his rig and got out of the fire truck just vibrating with fatigue from head to toe. He asked if by chance this food was for them and when I old him that yes, we motorcyclists of Alberta were here to serve them he picked me up and crying told me I was his angel, that he hadn't eaten in 62 hours, he'd been surviving on Ritz Crackers and granola bars.

And story after story was the same - OMG Coffee, I haven't had coffee in two days...this sandwich is the best thing in the world - I haven't eaten in two days or 24 hours....

And I made sure that every firefighter, EMT, RCMP officer, truck driver etc knew that BIKERS - RIDERS were responsible for making this happen.

The view at 1 AM from our food station at MAC ISLAND

I worked with Lynda's help, through the night making sandwiches and coffee and doing our best to raise the spirits of our boys and girls. We worked all day Thursday and through into Friday morning Linda headed back to Grande Prairie for another load of supplies late on Thursday. In the mean time, Jeremy Hall from Ruby Ridge Contracting had brought down a load of supplies and Will Skinner - both of them just pitched in and began helping to feed people.

On Thursday morning, Brian Jean opposition leader from the Wild Rose Party and Tany Yao also from the Wild Rose representing Wood Buffalo stopped by - their kind words were deeply appreciate by those of us feeding our fire fighters.

More to follow - but I need to get on the road to Two Hills to present them their trophy and road signs. Then back to Fort Mac with more supplies.

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

The good, the bad and the very ugly

Our military is in the headlines this week and it is not a pretty thing.

Here is the link to the Maclean's article preview: http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/our-militarys-disgrace-a-preview-of-our-latest-cover-story/

Rape and violence, these are among the topics of the investigation by L’actuality and their sister publication Maclean's.

Our military has reportedly had these problems for a lot of years.
And sadly, so has our R.C.M.P.

But it's not just about what happens at work.

In the US, this article from the Free Thought Project states that 1 in 4 women is a victim of domestic abuse but that number is 1 in 2 for police officers spouses.

The Canadian Dimension article from October 2015 suggests that domestic abuse in Canada by police officers is handled very badly by the police services:

Begin Quote:
As bad as things are in the U.S., by comparison Canada and other countries are in the Stone Age in taking action or acknowledging the problem. In the Montreal and Halifax police departments, less than one percent of male officers who commit domestic violence may face a criminal charge, according to calculations based on discipline records. The situation is even worse at the RCMP—even after Jocelyn Hotte’s shooting rampage. The RCMP disciplines Mounties more harshly if they steal or make a false statement than if they attack an intimate partner. A male Mountie who assaults his wife or girlfriend may have as little as a one-in-6,500 chance of ever facing a judge for his crime. End Quote

Not surprisingly, the Canadian Military also has it's issues with spousal abuse.
The CBC reported on the issue in 2011.

Police Officers and Combat Military Personnel and Veterans all become broken human beings at some point in their careers.  Some become far more broken than others.

My personal belief is that there are a number of factors at play here.

The very nature of the jobs these people sign up for is centered around violence and dealing with the worst of the worst in humanity.

Some of the people who come to these jobs already have ego issues or anger/aggression issues but are successful at hiding their true nature for a long time, until one day they loose their grip. Others have superiors who turn a blind eye or ship the bad apple out to another detachment or unit to get rid of the administration headaches.

Others are good people who over time become jaded by the filth they have to deal with on a day to day basis, who slowly begin to loose a handle on their own sense of morality and decency.
Their moral compass shifts.

Yet others are plunged into the depths of darkness over a single horrific incident that haunts them.

The darkness and pain has to have somewhere to go and if it is not being dealt with in a constructive way like counselling, things can go off the rails.

From everything I have read, it appears that most of the "offenders" in these rape and violence cases are male. And that does not surprise me.

"Weakness" in the military is frowned upon, the same in the R.C.M.P.  and other police services.
You have to be mentally tough to deal with a lot of the situations these people face.
You have to have your "brother/sister's" back. They need to be able to rely on you and so a sign of cracking under pressure could be a death nell to your job when it comes to your trustworthiness in a crisis situation. Hence showing any humanness means your livelihood becomes jeopardized.

You truly are a cog in the wheel, a piece of machinery and when you break down, when you are going sideways, you run the risk of being discharged and worse.

The stigma attached with "weakness" is a largely a male "issue".
Many men see "weakness" as a flaw.
The system sees "weakness" as a flaw.
And so, they become good at covering up the misery they are in.

Too often no one notices and so no interventions take place.
Due to the fear levels the victims have, often times many are hurt before the "situation" ever comes to light.

The violent, grotesque and often cruel world these people live in while on the job, takes a huge toll on their psyche. The military and police services in particular, are very good at making people into "soldiers", into order followers, into people who turn off the pain, the degradation while on the job, but as the horrors come to them through their mind's eye, in a crowded room or in their dreams, many crack.

Eventually some of them totally crumble. Without help, many become lost.

Many times, the victim becomes a victimizer.

The problem is not with the majority of these human beings, but rather with a system that does little to address the mental health needs of it's people.

If the "management" caught the warning signs and got these people the support, help and tools they need, things wouldn't have to degenerate the way they often seem to.

That is the SHAME GAME.

If they only knew that it's NOT WEAKNESS at all but HUMANNESS.

I don't care how tough you are, how strong you think you are.  If shown enough horror, enough cruelty, at least one of three things will happen, if not all three:

1) You will become so angry, so filled with a sense of impotency that the rage damned near consumes you and you take it out on everyone around you especially your spouse.

2) You commit suicide either physically or career wise. By that I mean, you drink and drive (Self Medicate), you pick fights, you become overtly aggressive - a bully...you become a problem child in other words.

3) You find the right help and support and begin living a better, healthier and more balanced life.

Our soldiers, veterans and police have more than a hurdle or two to overcome.

The New Veterans Charter  still does not provide for them adequately, in spite of the Equitas agreement, for if it did, the bureaucracy would have changed hugely, especially with the high profile cases mentioned below, but it has not.

From my personal experience talking with veterans, it hasn't improved for a lot of them.
Their case managers are burnt out and overworked thanks to so many VAC offices closing, which means the bureaucracy is worse than ever.

Some of the policies and procedures are border line cruel when it comes to benefits and supports.

Case in point - Eric Magill - when you read his story in the Trenton Trentonian Newspaper, you will shake your head at the lunacy.

He lives in Trenton Ontario and has been given a wheelchair with California wheels on it, the wrong wheels for his terrain and the brakes don't work. His house is not wheel chair accessible, neither is his vehicle and why? Paperwork issues. Bureaucracy. 14 YEARS WORTH.

And how about the case of veteran Paul Franklin- his legs were left behind in Afghanistan, taken by an suicide bomber and yet every year he is asked if they have grown back.

The degradation of needing support and being treated like an unworthy/manipulative human being is cruel.

If prisoners were treated in this manner, the John Howard Society or someone would be advocating loudly for them.

The Equitas Society was formed to combat the inadequacies in the New Veteran Charter and while an agreement was reached in May of 2015, nothing much has changed.

Psychological supports are even tougher to get than the physical supports like a wheelchair and sadly, I personally know of stories where spouse's of soldiers with PTSD and other mental challenges are told to run far away, take half of everything and go.

No family counselling, no real help. Instead - destroy a family.

I have lost military friends to suicide. The devastation to their families is enormous.

Sadly, I get why these people blow a head gasket and why so much abuse and suicide exists.

The combination of the rigours of the job, the sometimes inhumane treatment at the hands of superiors and bureaucrats becomes too much and voila, the perfect storm.

I admit I am no psychiatrist or psychologist, but I have heard these heart wrenching stories enough to know that I am not too far off in my interpretation of what takes place. At least for some.

It's tragic. But, we can do something to help end some of the degradation of suffering for one man...

I hope those of you who can will join us in Nisku at Blackjack's Roadhouse on May 28th for our Wheels for Our Wounded Poker Run - this year we will be riding to help Eric Magill.

This poker run will be the kick off our national Crowdfunding Campaign that we are launching for him.

With Branch #389 of ANAVETS as our new partner, we are going to be able to provide those who need or wish to have a charitable donation receipt when you donate online or mail cheques.

We are just waiting for the new bank accounts to be opened and the PayPal account for ANAVETS to be set up!

We intend to raise funds through the crowdfunding platform until we have raised all of the money we need to fund the scooter conversion project for Eric.


If you are blessed to be riding these days, please remember to ride like everyone around you is blind and cannot see you and please consider dressing for the slide and not the ride.

Belt Drive Betty
Editor & Rider

Fundraising - Where the Money has Gone.

For those not up to speed, a number of veterans and military groups are up in arms and are trying to discredit me because of the offence I took over a MEME that was made public by a group called Military Minds.

Now, because I said "Hey - Civilians, this is what Military Minds thinks of you and I"....they are attempting to smear my name and slander me - accusing me of making money off of the backs of our military...this is the meme that I took offence to...

This is not the Vietnam era when friends of mine like Captain Ed Ballinger were being spit on and called disgusting rude names at every turn.

This is 2016, a time when we, the majority of the civilians of the world have an appreciation of our military like never before.

We are more likely to buy a person in uniform a cup of coffee or shake their hand and thank them for the job they do.

We advocate loudly to our MP's, to other civilians to educate them about the New Veteran's Charter and the inadequacies in the veteran's support systems within VAC.  We work hard to fill the voids that are created because no matter how hard our Government may try to be everything to everyone, they fall short.

We fundraise, we proclaim our support at events like the Hero's Highway Ride, Red Friday and oh so many hundreds more.

We work to raise funds for all sorts of military related charities.

Here is my fundraising history - the condensed version.

I have been donating free advertising in my newspaper to the riding clubs and the charities they support for over 13 years, many of them military or veteran. The average ad is worth $85, now multiply that number by an average of 350 events that we sponsor with an average of 4 free ads per event. Now multiply that number by 13 years.

Since day one of my business I promised to pay it forward and I always have.
Corporate events pay for their advertising but the riding clubs and their charities get free marketing.

My efforts on behalf of our veterans and military are many.

The Bikers United in Remembrance Patch sells for $10 - they cost me about $3.60 a piece with shipping, duty, exchange and taxes. My new Canadian supplier charges me about the same when I buy in lots of 50 or 100.  If I am ordering for lots of groups all at once then we can drive the costs down considerably.  We had a good run on them when they first were designed, but now we sell the odd one here or there, but not many.

I have donated monies to several veterans causes and have sold these patches in batches of 100 at my dead cost and below to groups like the CVFR, Paws Fur Thought and other veterans Orgs for them to raise money with.  I have donated and given many of these patches away. I released my artwork under a creative commons license and have given a number of military groups permission to use the art for their fundraising purposes. Ask Smokey from the CVFR Ottawa, ask Jason Mullis, Medric Cousineau, Trapper of the CVFR Calgary....

On My Military Support Conga - we donated a bike to The Canadian Legion of Riders through a contest we hosted with Johnny Pag Canada, my company paid for that bike through contra advertising. I also raised and donated approx $7K that was divided up between Vets Canada, Paws Fur Thought and the Military Police National Relay Ride. At each ride of 20 - 30 bikers, and there were about 20 actual rides, the money that was collected was handled by the local riding club and we donated 25% of whatever we raised at the local ride back to their community. The money was always accounted for by someone local.
I funded 90% of the trip through my company - 92 days on the road in over 80 communities meeting with small groups of 1 - 30 riders, raising awareness. I had huge assistance from CAV, the Military Group I have belonged to for 12 years.

Please feel free to contact Jim Lawther at VETS Canada, Medric Cousineau of Paws Fur Thought and the Lamont French of the Military Police National Relay Ride to verify that donations were made.

Our first ever Wheels for Our Wounded Poker Run saw us donate over $4,000 to Kate MacEachern and the Long Way Home.  After expenses we had $1,600 left over and a ton of swag.

Here is the blog post outlining where we stood last May: http://beltdrivebetty.blogspot.ca/2015/06/wheels-for-our-wounded-inaugural-event.html

Rob Truscott handled all of the money for our Poker Run.  He is a solider who is actively serving.
He can vouch for the accounting and the fact that we did not meet our target of $9,999 to buy the bike. We had a deal for a bike, we had a veteran chosen but we could not get to our goal.

We were unable to purchase the bike from Mountainview Harley Davidson and I had to tell that to Peter Murie and I had to tell Brandie the marketing manager at Edmonton Harley Davidson that we were unable to meet our target and that we wouldn't be needing the riding gear after all. Kate MacEachern was the intended recipient of the bike and she was informed that we were not in a position to donate a bike. It was the hardest thing I have ever done.

We have only had one fundraiser and that was last May.

You see, I ended up with adrenal fatigue cause by tumours on my adrenaline glands in July of last year and was unable to do any other fundraising. I am still recovering from that and am told it could be another year or better before I am back to "normal".

We also had a number of our tee shirts go missing and when they arrived at the Greyhound Station the box was wet, destroyed, in a plastic bag. The contents inside were decimated - full of mildew.
Sadly the shipper did not buy insurance and so we have less swag to sell than we should, but again everything is documented including photos.

We donated swag to Mark Creamer and a group in PEI who held a Wheels for Our Wounded fundraiser last August to help a first responder in PEI to repair his side car. They purchased tee shirts for their event from our supplier and we supplied pins, patches, medallions and challenge coins at no cost to them. They still have swag and tee shirts and raised over $400 profit from their event for their first responder.

Did we do all we wanted to in our first year? NO - but we did something.

We helped two groups with funds.

This year we are raising funds for Eric Magill so that we can have a scooter modified to accept his wheelchair.  Although we will be holding a poker run, we will be fundraising until the scooter is paid for, we will be launching a crowd funding campaign to keep the fundraising going after the event.

We are working with Jon Burman from Classy Chassis in Lakefield Ontario as Eric lives in Trenton.

At our Poker Run this year, Rob Truscott is again our treasurer and he will make sure our paperwork is accurate. Backing him up will be Joey Carothers of the Brunch for Broads Group that is is our key volunteer group. I never handle the money at our charity events, I always put people in place who are stellar human beings to do that job. This way there is transparency.

I am also spearheading a project to build a war monument. It's going to cost between $55 and $70,000 to build.

ANAVETS will be handling the funds - the CAV is supporting us as I am leading this project as a CAV member.

Throughout the years there have been many, many other smaller things that I have done to contribute to the betterment of the world around me. 

I am not looking for a hero cookie, nor am I tooting my own horn. I am simply stating the facts and providing you with the names of organizations and people that you can ask - did she ever really donate to you? And you will get your answer.  

Now on to my lawsuit, it is well documented as well.

It was, what is termed a shotgun suit. 7 defendants including the Mayor of Sicamous, the City of Sicamous, Steve Hammer of Summer Stomp, Bernie Aubin of the Headpins, Vince Lewis a land owner and the Sicamous Chamber of Commerce, a non profit plus myself. 

My lawyer termed it a nuisance suit.

The lawsuit was dropped a couple of months ago. We had quit taking donations for my defence after about the first six months. The page still exists for posterity's sake as there is information and documents that may be of assistance to small business and charities. 

That page is in an ARCHIVED STATE.  The lawsuit cost far more than the monies that were raised as we had to force the case to court. I stood for my community, I did everything I could to educate people and I did my investigation thoroughly. That chapter is over.

These are the facts of what I have done to serve my community, veteran, military or civilian, riders all.

I do not get dark humour, that's what my friend Rob Truscott called the Meme that I take offence to. 

But as I expressed to him and others, they are expecting civilians to understand something that they have no context or reference for.

Even I with a military mother and father, a cousin in the 22nd Regiment and uncles retired from the RCMP - had never experienced this "DARK HUMOUR", if this is humour then I am sorry I do not get it.

My saying that I will not support Military Minds Inc if that is how they feel about civilians is just that - MY STAND - I will not support them and not just because of the MEME either - Because when I spoke out about it I was called and continue to be called horrid, horrid names.

I was treated like I was a Vietnam Vet and this was 40 years ago...the dialogue was disgusting and disturbing.

Had they shared this Meme with their members only and not made it public - they could have had their good old laugh at us - we the civilians who try to understand, who try to support...we would have been none the wiser.

But no, they made it public, to civilians who don't understand the ART OF WAR.

It was in my mind ill advised and I will never support the organization called Military Minds Inc., and especially not now that they and their supporters have launched a massive smear campaign against me.  

There are many, many veterans organizations that can use a hand and I will continue to do what I can, where I can, because I can. 

I will put my support where it is wanted.  

After all I am just a civilian and my opinion on a warriors service is not appreciated by Military Minds Inc.

Me, 1963

My mother, far left

My Father at 8 Wing Trenton

Belt Drive Betty

Editor & Rider

Common Sense - how common is it?

Meet the New Wave of Female Motorcyclists
The face of modern women's moto is beautiful... and properly badass.

That's the headline and the photo from thedrive.com

My first thought when I read the headline of this article coupled with the photo of a semi nude female rider was "Here we go again", and after reading the article about the photographer and the women she "shot", all I can say is, "Here we go again".

This rant will probably fall on deaf ears, but here I go anyway.

I get it, this is art. And yes all of the women portrayed in the article are beautiful in their own unique way, including Stormy who appears to be transgender. As art, the photos are beautifully done.

The problem in my mind, however, starts with the minds of those who are going to look at this art and then get on a motorcycle wanting to look pretty and sexy instead of being geared up for safety while riding.

I honestly wonder how many 20 somethings are going to think that their physical beauty needs to be displayed in all of it's glory while riding.

I wonder how many will be scraped up off the highway by some poor paramedic, police officer or fire fighter whose PTSD will deepen because of the horrific sight.

I wonder how many families will loose a daughter or have to care for her for weeks, months and years after having gone for a ride without proper gear.

There are issues within the female gender that these images are going to influence.

As a female rider, I have some strong feelings of frustration, concern and yes, even some anger at these photos. Not just because of the gender issue either because I would feel equally disappointed and concerned if these were photos of men riding clad this way.

As I said earlier, some will see these solely as art - I see it as a statement, and I personally don't feel it's a good statement to be making.

What say you?

Then there is this Meme from Military Minds Inc.

Maybe this is my day to be a grumpy old prude, but I am seriously offended by this Meme.

As a civilian who had supported and advocated for our veterans and  serving military, I find this sentiment disturbing and very sad.

What surprised me the most about this Meme was how many military types have liked it and shared it.

Over 750 Likes and 300 Shares and some of the comments that accompany it angered me.

I posted on my Facebook Page that I was pissed about this Meme and was told by one person that "Offence was being taken where none was intended" - REALLY?

I am a civilian - I acknowledge and support the military and our vets...and they tell me to go "Fuck my Hat"?

If this was aimed at bureaucrats, desk riders and politicians who make policy or life hell for our military and veterans - then SAY THAT, but don't put all civilians in the same soup pot.

That's like saying all riders are 1% or all riders are loud obnoxious asses...it's just not true or right.

If this was aimed at those who think that soldiers start wars and hate the military - then SAY THAT.

To those in the military, this might be funny, but as a civilian who has worked her ass off to support our troops, I find this meme to be very inappropriate and offensive and I for one will not be supporting Military Minds Inc. anymore - at least not until there is a public apology on their page.

If that is how the support of civilians is appreciated by them, then I'll concentrate my efforts on groups that I know, appreciate what many thousands upon thousands of civilians do to support our military.

Again - I'd love your opinion on these two topics...

In other news voting has come to an end in Canada's MOST Rider Friendly Community Contest - the results are unofficial but it appears that we have crowned our first Rider Friendly Community - Two Hills Alberta.

Congratulations to Bob Ross, the man who nominated his community first, the town of Two Hills and all of the people who voted for this community - your efforts have paid off!

Blackjacks Road House in Nisku Alberta is hosting their first ride night of the season tonight and they will have a special guest - Eric Lobo - world traveller.  If you get the chance, stop by Blackjacks Road House, Alberta's Best Bike Bar tonight and say hi!

If you are blessed to be riding today, please ride like everyone around you is blind and cannot see you and consider dressing for the slide, not the ride.

Belt Drive Betty
Editor & Rider

Overcoming Writers Block, Anger & Fear - Strong Motivators

Have you ever been so busy, so overwhelmed that you can't think straight?

That's where I am and have been for months.
I have struggled with writing of late, not that there haven't been many a topic that caught my eye, upset me or affected this community of riders.

I sit down at my computer, determined to write and the words just don't come and when they do they are such a mish mash of thoughts that even I can't really follow them.  So I shut down the blogger platform and go to work on one of the hundreds of  other tasks that are pulling at me.

Some of what's been going on with me is that I am tired.

Tired of politics, tired of hatred, strife, sadness, injustice. I have been focusing on the positives and I sure don't find a whole lot positive in the news. Facebook isn't much of a help either unless of course it's funny animal videos. I have been attempting to look forward, to happier times, imagining myself at some of the rallies I want to go to, the time I will get to spend with friends and the places I want to ride and experience. I have been looking for all of the good things to celebrate like sunshine, and spring, riding and loved ones...

Over the last few weeks there have been so many sad, hurtful, desperate situations....
We lost an RCMP Officer on Vancouver Island last week, a tragic and senseless loss.
We have already had numerous motorcycle crashes and fatalities.
Flo Fuhr from the Conga For Breast Cancer died suddenly while in Mexico.
Friends with cancer, heart disease and other critical illnesses that all need help.
Friends loosing their jobs and their sense of purpose.
Attawapiskat First Nation peoples attempting suicide by the hundreds, protests and sit ins taking place.
Bombings in Europe.
The leaders of our nations around the world seem hell bent on destroying it, so do groups like ISIL et al.

My heart and my psyche are aching.

It's hard being a "Journalist" who champions the under dog and takes on controversial topics when you are in the kind of mood I am in - I just really don't want to hear, see or read negative, hurtful or hateful things.  I don't want to be party to adding more of the same into the universe.

It's lead to writers block.

Then I came across something that got my dander up, something so ridiculous and so potentially devastating for our community that I had to speak out:

Westboro Baptist Church intends to protest at Motorcycle Rallies.

According to the article, Westboro Baptist Church spokesperson Lisa Greer is attributed with saying:
“these (motorcycle rallies) are a haven for inappropriate sexual activity and rampant drug use.” Greer explained to Kansas ABC affiliate  reporter Dan Walters, “Several motorcycle clubs across the country support the American soldiers and veterans who blindly fought overseas to provide homosexuals with the right to openly and legally commit sins against Jesus Christ – our mission is to educate.”

According to Greer, the Westboro Baptist Church has already made arrangements to attend the following motorcycle rallies – Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, Rolling Thunder, Bikes Blues and BBQ, Love Ride, Laconia Motorcycle Week, Indiana Boogie, Laughlin River Run, Mrytle Beach Bike Week, and the Redwood Run. Greer told reporters that contingent upon budgetary allotments, the organization may also attend additional rallies throughout the year. End Quote

What is wrong with people?

I know that you have free speech but seriously there are times when just because you can say it doesn't mean it should be said.

Just because you can do it, doesn't mean you should.

What in heaven's name are these protestors, these so called "religious" people thinking?
How many soldiers funerals have they protested at? How many lives has their venom touched?

And what will the reaction be from the motorcycle community?

These people are doing to our community what so many reporters, police officers, politicians and naive riders do to our community - they are tarring us with a brush that is not ours to wear. They are profiling us, judging us, finding us guilty of a perceived "sin".

I pray that my brothers and sisters who decide to attend these events ignore Westboro - don't feed them any anger, hate, hurt or other emotion. Don't give them any power or ammunition or PRESS by reacting to them.

IGNORE THEM - PLEASE for the sake of everyone in our community - IGNORE THEM.

WE DON'T NEED anymore bad press.  We don't need lives destroyed over narrow minded, bigoted people. DO NOT GIVE THEM WHAT THEY WANT. ATTENTION.

I need some time on Doc and soon, riding always soothes my soul and allows my thoughts to settle down. I am looking forward to riding with Eric Lobo and doing an interview with him. Hopefully that will happen sooner than later!

Canada's MOST Rider Friendly Community Contest, presented by Community Futures of Alberta, is almost at it's end and we find out the official word on April 21st about which community is is going to be crowned "Canada's MOST Rider Friendly Community of 2015 - Two Hills Alberta or Moncton New Brunswick... Please check out all of the wonderful sponsors that are making Canada's MOST Rider Friendly Community Contest a reality and give them some LOVE!
Visit www.riderfriendlycontest.ca

My Beaver Mascot - Road Trip Rita is holding a contest called Beaver Shots.
So, what are Beaver Shots you ask? Surely Rita couldn't be suggesting anything inappropriate could she?

NO, calm down...here's what she's looking for...

If you take the time to stop, snap a picture and share it with Road Trip Rita, you could earn yourself a GAS CARD!

Visit: www.beltdrivebetty.com/BeaverShots  - to enter your photo....you must be a registered member of www.beltdrivebetty.com to enter - but hey, it's free to be a member.  Apparently our contest link is broken - we'll have it fixed shortly!

Until next time, please, dress for the slide and not the ride, ride like everyone around you is blind and cannot see you and brush up on those skills...let's have a safer rider season that what it's started out as.

Belt Drive Betty
Editor & Rider