Ride of Remembrance Organizers Say Thanks

Kathy Schaber, who was the 'point person' in organizing the Wisconsin Firefighters Memorial (WSFM) 'Ride of Remembrance' on Saturday, July 28, has a list of people to thank.

The 66 volunteers were our biggest supporters, and we could not have done this without them," she said. "Thank you also goes to Matty's Bar & Grill, Tri City National Banks, InPro Corp., Piggly Wiggly, Kwik Trip, Bushy's Pub & Grill, Walmart, and Aldi Corporation.  We had a few families from the fire department donate soda, ice and raffle items as well."

The ride raises money for the memorial and park in Wisconsin Rapids. According to their website, the vision of the WSFM was to create a park with a natural and scenic setting to house a memorial to our firefighting heroes from across this great State of Wisconsin. The serenity of the setting allows park visitors to be alone with their thoughts and emotions and at the same time realize that their loves one will never be forgotten.

Schaber said they fed "over 700 mouths in a record 38 minutes," as about 500 hundred motorcycles stopped for lunch at Tess Corners Fire Station #1.  "The food was great and everything went very smoothly, and the riders were impressed with the stand-up lunch tables (2x12x10' pieces of lumber on top of barrels worked quite well) that enabled us to fit that many people in the firehouse at once.  We were in and out in our allotted 1 hour time frame."

Unfortunately, not everyone gave the ride a glowing review, in part because they weren't aware that it was going to happen despite a fair amount of .

"I heard we had a couple people get out of their cars and yell at the firefighters for blocking the road while we came through.  Another woman yelled at them for wasting taxpayer dollars," Schaber said.

To be clear no taxpayer expense was incurred for the ride, and all expenses were all covered by donations and participant registration fees.

"On the other hand, we had a nice crowd throughout the route - there were lots of cheers and thank you's from the citizens as we drove by, which made us feel quite proud!  There is nothing like riding under a huge American flag held high by 2 aerial trucks, to make you realize that the job we do is well worth the sleepless nights, calls that leave us drained- emotionally and physically and time spent away from our families," Schaber said.