Life couldn't have been much better for Lance Halsey in the days before his death.

At 34, the Cortland man and longtime laborer had been promoted to superintendent at his Palos Hills construction job.

He had bought a house that was the perfect size for his wife, their 2- and 3-year-old sons and a newborn boy. "He had just gotten to be where he wanted to be in life," said Halsey's father Chris, of Sugar Grove. "He had three kids, a beautiful wife, a nice home and a good future - and boom."

On June 4, while riding his Harley-Davidson motorcycle home from a Lions Club fundraiser for children, Halsey crashed on a road in the Maple Park area. He died the next day. Aside from heartache, the tragedy left Halsey's widow with mounting debt - house payments, funeral bills - and without life insurance.

To one man Halsey never met, however, it left an idea - one that's taking shape in the Tri-Cities and taking the pressure off of Halsey's family and other bikers in need. "Something bigger and better is coming out of (the tragedy)," said Dean Akey, a St. Charles business owner and biker.

That something is Biker4Biker, a grassroots fundraising group Akey, of Batavia, started after hearing Halsey's story. The organization, which consists of 12 dedicated volunteers, aims to organize and promote fundraising for bikers and families of bikers who are in crisis.

That could include a sudden illness, injury or death that leaves a motorcycle family financially strapped.

The group is not seeking nonprofit status to collect money, Akey said, but instead wants to be a conduit for donations to go directly to bikers' families through events and online payments to trust funds.

A Web site has been set up at www.biker4biker.org.

"There's a lot of outstanding organizations out there that raise money for other organizations," Akey said. "This is primarily designed to help individual families."

Within weeks of organizing, the group raised $16,000 for the Halsey family July 29 at a benefit with music and a bike show in St. Charles, Akey said, adding that more than 500 people showed up.

Another benefit is in the works for this fall.

"We're just looking for the need," Akey said.

Halsey's father said he was impressed and grateful for Biker4Biker, although being on the receiving end of charity was something new to his family.

For nearly a decade, Lance Halsey and his father volunteered for and organized charities as members of the Elburn Lions Club and various motorcycle clubs.

One particular program the father and son enjoyed was Luv Cub. Through it, Lions members buy for children Teddy Bears that carry pictures of deceased loved ones.

In addition to the Biker4Biker benefit funds, Halsey's family and friends received 125 such bears at his funeral.

"You spend all that time helping with charity, doing it just because if feels good," Chris Halsey reflected. "Then all of a sudden it turns around and it happens to you."

Leaning on each other in times of need is part of the biker culture, Akey said.

And it's something he intends to keep promoting through Biker4Biker

"There is a stereotype where people just look at us as big guys with tattoos - and we are," he said. "But we have big hearts, too."