3 days ago
Group traveling through 22 states to spread veteran suicide awareness
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) — A group of advocates is taking a cross-country motorcycle ride with a powerful mission; they want to raise awareness and support for veteran suicide prevention.
'We're making stops along the way. We happen to have 26 Harley-Davidson dealers and one Polaris dealer. We're meeting up with other riders and veterans and just trying to show them that we're here to support them,' explained Angie White, the founder of 'Riding 22 in 22'
The Ohio based non-profit 'Riding 22 in 22' has partnered up with Strive, an organization that helps veterans who are struggling with PTSD and other challenges, to be able to offer treatment to veterans at no cost.
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'We're hoping that veterans will know that there are people here that care, and, you know, a veteran is more apt to help another veteran before they'll ask for help for themselves, and so we just want them to know that there are programs out there and people that care,' Angie White stated.
Angie's husband, Jason White, is a Desert Storm veteran who had some problems when he first came back home to the states. After telling his stories to older veterans, he found out that not a lot of veterans were getting the help they needed.
'I had a friend of mine who I looked up to highly. He was a Vietnam vet, and I had a lot of problems that I complained to him about. He's like, 'Yeah, we all have these problems.' He said, and they didn't get the recognition we got when we came back, and I felt that, you know, I didn't feel like that was right,' said Jason White, the other founder of 'Riding 22 in 22.'
That's when Jason and his wife decided to start making a difference and spread their message.
'We came up with this idea actually back in 2022 and decided, you know, how cool would be to ride 22 states in 22 days in 2022. Well, life gets in the way, and we didn't quite get to that, and we finally sat down this year, and well, I mean last year, and said if we're going to do this, we're going to have to do it,' said Jason.
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'We all did a lot of pre-prepping beforehand, all the bikes went in and kind of got an overview, a safety check, and we're just literally taking it one day at a time. We have a lot of fun along the way, you know, seeing some sights along the way,' said Angie.
The couple said that hearing from veterans along the way has made everything worthwhile.
'When we hear those stories, we're able to speak with them and other people are able to share their stories, and we know that this is what we're supposed to be doing,' stated Angie.
The non-profit relies on donations to continue to spread the message.
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