Georgia Riders Helping Foster Kids

GEORGIA RIDERS GEORGIA RIDERS

HELPING FOSTER KIDS IN NEED

Did you know that most

of the children that are taken from their homes to be put in the care of foster parents are taken at the spur of the moment? They have no time to pack their belongings or special items, such as clothes, soap, shampoo or even a toothbrush! These things, are usually provided by the foster parents. Once they have these items and have to get moved from home to home, most have no suitcase or bag to carry their things in. They often have to just be packed in a paper bag or trash bag.

With all of the above in mind, The Georgia Riders riding club decided to help the foster kids in their communities. They teamed up with The Future Hope Foundation, Inc. to be able to supply some of these essentials. The Future Hope Foundation, Inc. was created to assist organizations and families with children in the foster care system by obtaining support to meet their needs and raise public awareness of the difficulties they face.

The Foundation helps to make the transition from home to home a little bit easier on these children. It was brought to MC group’s attention that many children were in need of a duffel bag to carry their items. With that being said, they’ve been able, through generous donations from the public, to provide them with just that.

But that’s not all. The Georgia Riders decided to try to help make these kids’ birthdays a bit special by gifting them with a duffel bag with their name embroidered on filled with a few small birthday presents. On other occasions, the bikers were blessed to be able to provide some of the children with a bicycle to call their own. They also have an orphanage that they contribute to, to help with needs and gifts from the children’s own wish list and to fill the foster kids’ closets with much-needed personal hygiene items and clothing.

On June 5th, 2021, the Georgia Riders will be hosting their 1st Annual Charity Ride for The Future Hope Foundation, Inc. None of the above would be possible without the help of people like you who give so generously to the Future Hope Foundation, Inc. and other charities through personal donations or support of their fundraising events.

Please come out and support this worthy cause and enjoy the beauty of the mountains of Cleveland, Georgia. You’ll enjoy a scenic ride, lunch will be provided as well as event T-shirts, raffle items and live music by JB Wolf. Many thanks to all of the Georgia Riders sponsors and especially to Chuck Watwood with LawBike.com and Ron Galletti of Born To Ride Magazine, for your support of this fundraiser.

All donations are 100% tax deductible and receipts can be provided. The Foundation would like to give a special shout out to Matt Cantrell with Hiram Station located in Hiram, Georgia, for his exceptional support of past and future fundraising events.

For more information on this great event or The Future Hope Foundation, Inc., feel free to contact Stuart Fincher at 706-969-0017 or David Strickland at 770-910-4315.

Whatttsup my BTR friends? Mike and I hope all is well in your neck of the woods as we make the best of it in ours. He repeats to me daily the age old proverb: There is light at the end of the tunnel. With all the life-altering events that have happened recently, most of you would think he’s referring to COVID or social injustice situations. But in our case, it’s the results of a catastrophic accident that occurred to us on June 22, 2019 while riding the Fat Bird 2. In a nutshell (using this term wisely) he was healing and rehabbing from that incident right up until August of last year. Around then and almost ready to start working, getting us back on the scoot and becoming part of society again, the left knee screamed NO WAY!

His doc said the permanent fix was to replace it with a new one. Two surgeries were required. The first was to remove original hardware. The results of this were mind blowing and unexpected. The femur did not heal correctly thus complicating a knee replacement. Mike cuts in, “Spyke, my little Plain Jane storyteller, I’ll take it from here. Mind blowing to say the least! The broken pieces didn’t fuse back together so they had to cut off my femur, replace it with a ball/rod and crammed that monstrosity into my thigh bone almost up to my crotch.” “Then, on the lower end they installed a plate connected with another stud going down a good 10” into my tibula almost to my ankle. Can you just imagine what the drill, bits and hammer looked like for this job?” I squawk, “Dude! That’s not so-fa-knee and makes my little leg hurt just thinking about it. By looking at those x-rays, you’ll be setting off every metal detector you come close to. You’re supposed to sugarcoat stuff like that, not go overboard like being on the Titanic.” “You make it sound like your surgery was done with civil war instruments where they just took a big saw, cut your leg off and rammed whatever they could up there. It was a joint operation. You had two surgeons involved. There was no phoknee balog-knee going on. They did an awesome job, you’re walking better than ever before and you’re on the road to us riding the Fat Bird 3!” Mike breaks in, “Yeah, I know, light at the end of the tunnel. Besides, I can’t sugar coat anything. I’m diabetic! I must cut to the bone and get the point across, literally.” “It’s too bad they couldn’t give me one that grants me three wishes, you know a ge-knee. At least they did the surgery on a good day and didn’t lose control of their san-knee-ty. I was worried because the jokes I heard between them in pre-op were kor-knee. Enough of the knee slappers, you’ve got other stuff to babble about besides my bionic leg.” I cackle, “Well Mike, all I can say is that you’re now u-knee-que and deserve harmon-knee going forward in your meaknee-ingful life. If you’re referring to our road trip to the other side of the pond? Then yes, we made that Sunday afternoon journey around Tampa Bay to an awesome BTR mega bash at Pop a Beer bar and grill. It was great seeing friends like mc Sharpie and his riding group, John and Heather getting video of me squawking for the TV show and the Tommy Roxx band playing some awesome Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute songs. Tommy’s been a friend of ours for over 20 years and whenever they end a concert with Freebird, you can find me on his shoulder like the free bird that I am!”

Mike cuts me off, “You’re just one crazy colored chicken that knows how to bring out the best in people. The new normal for us is to get out more and work my leg harder than I work your feathered ass.” I cluck, “Dude, I may be a pinstriped piece of poultry but at least I’m not as knee-de as you right now!” We look forward to seeing more of our BTR friends out and about in the knee-ar future. We may even be riding to the Great American Motofest in July at the Boss Hogg Ranch in Plant City. Right now it’s time for Mike and I to head off to therapy. He’s got to get his good knee under the keys, my wings out the window and the trucks’ wheels rolling down the road.

THE TANK WHISPERER MAKES YOUR OLD TANKS LAST FOREVER

The heart and soul of your bike is the fuel tank. Originally, the tank was new and clean, but over the years that all has changed. If you are tired of cleaning carburetors or think you need a new tank because yours is too rusty or it leaks, I have the solution. We clean tanks and preserve the metal – even permanently stop leaks! The highgrade epoxy coating we use is second to none; we can even remove most Kreem and Red-Kote liners. We have a fast turnaround time; it’s the easiest thing you’ll do all week.