Alright, guys. Let’s face facts. We’re bikers. A lot of us get on the bike and pretend to be rebels, but for most of us “99 percenters”, we’ve got a mortgage, kids, debt, and real jobs. Hell, I’ve got all of that but a real job – but I do remember what that feels like.
Nearly every month in the riding season, we go off on long treks and poker runs for charities (last year I did something like 2400 miles worth), so now I’m asking all of you readers to step up.
As most of you guys probably noticed, an entire town in northern Alberta was evacuated and something approaching 2,400 homes and structures were destroyed. Fort McMurray, in the last two weeks, has simply ceased to exist due to mandatory evacuation. Now, since The Bikers’ Den is just a few hours away, I’m reaching out to all of you guys in the area to see how we might be able to help to take care some of these good folks that have lost everything.
In case you’ve been under a rock, here’s some quick stats I pulled off the web about the impact of the fire – so far – remember, this S.O.B. is still burning as I write this!
- 2,400 structures burned
- 400,000 acres burned (for us in the States, that’s half the size of Rhode Island)
- 100,000 citizens evacuated
- One quarter of Canada’s oil production, which is already struggling, has been halted due to this fire.
- The current estimated cost to fix all the damage is hovering around $9 billion Canadian.
The best news, though still tragic, is that as of right now, there have only been two casualties and only a moderate number of injuries. But thousands of lives have been changed. So here’s what I want you guys to do…
Put your thinking caps on and figure out the best ways that we, as a community, can help to raise money or resources for these folks. Water, clothes, money, whatever, and let’s ride out and be the sort of positive role models that I’m seemingly forever trying to find in our world. Reach out to your clubs, chapters, the dealerships, wherever and let’s get a plan to help these folks that were already struggling with a piss-poor economy and not a lot of help from the East coast!