Charity Bikers Put Best Foot Forward

Daily Herald --

Jan 9, 2008 --

By Josh Stockinger

Daily Herald Staff Writer

Posted Monday, September 11, 2006

A group of big-hearted bikers in the Tri-Cities area got what it asked for — another cause.

The grass-roots charity group Biker4Biker is teaming up with the Kane County Medical Reserve Corps for a new program to recruit and train on-call supply runners in a disaster.

Armed with backpacks, supplies, first-aid skills and, in many cases, Harley-Davidson motorcycles, the runners will be called upon to get in and out of tight spots resulting from, for instance, a terrorist attack or pandemic flu outbreak.

The effort is the latest for the relatively new biker organization, which calls St. Charles home and has helped raise thousands of dollars for other bikers in need while soliciting causes to promote.

Both Patrick DeMoon, Reserve Corps coordinator, and Dean Akey, Biker4Biker founder, say they don’t know of any similar programs in the area.

“We’re coloring outside the lines, I guess you could say,” said DeMoon, who contacted Biker4Biker after reading about it in the Daily Herald and seeing other articles on charitable riders. “Every time you pick up the paper, it seems you see another story about motorcycle people who want to help.”

The Medical Reserve Corps brings together volunteers of various backgrounds to foster emergency preparedness.

There are 23 such groups in Illinois and about 200 participants in Kane County.

Locally, DeMoon envisions having a stockpile of bikers who could navigate blocked roads or hard-to-reach rural areas to get food, medicine or even doctors to people in need.

With increased worries over terror threats, West Nile virus and a potential bird flu pandemic, the timing couldn’t be better for new, innovative ideas, officials agree.

The Reserve Corps has scheduled two first-aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation classes Oct. 5 and 12 specifically for the motorcyclists.

And DeMoon’s looking into mobilizing bikers into geographical areas, mapping out routes to specific parts of the county susceptible to natural disasters, such as flooding.

Meanwhile, Akey is again putting out a call for more volunteers. If this program is successful, he could try to branch out into other counties where Biker4Biker has members.

“We look at it as something that could be kind of bigger and better,” said Akey, a St. Charles business owner. “I think the program has even more far-reaching opportunities” than just Kane County.

Akey said about 30 people have shown interest in attending the first two forums with the reserve corps. He’s also trying to get the word out through a group newsletter and Web site, www.biker4biker.org.

“It’s such a good fit for what we’re wanting to do,” Akey said. “We have some unique skills that aren’t readily available out there. If there’s a role for us, and we can help, that’s what we want to do.”

jstockinger@dailyherald.com