Motorcyclists rally for veterans at annual fundraiser

A chorus of humming engines echoed down Hempstead Turnpike as hundreds of motorcyclists from across Long Island knocked their kickstands up at Texas Roadhouse in East Meadow on Aug. 5.

Similar activities ensued throughout the U.S. during the 15th annual motorcycle bike run for Home for our Troops, a nonprofit that donates specially adapted custom homes nationwide for severely injured post-9/11 veterans to enable them to rebuild their lives.

The nonprofit has built roughly 250 homes since its inception in 2004 and there are currently 90 homes being built across the nation. In its 2017 fiscal year, it raised nearly $25,000 to continue giving homes to veterans.

One veterans who has benefited from the organization is Timothy Birckhead, who served overseas as a Second Class Petty Officer on the USS Iwo Jima starting in 2000.

In 2006, he grew physically weaker and could not pass the Navy’s Physical Readiness Test. The next year he had to go leave the Navy and, in 2009, was diagnosed with a nerve disease called Hereditary Neuropathy with liability to Pressure Palsies, which causes weakness to the limbs and muscular atrophy.

After Birckhead visited the nonprofit organization, he was built a house in Mullica Hill, New Jersey to live with his daughter, Tamyja. His new home includes wider halls and doorways, automatic door openers, roll under sinks, stovetops and counters, pull-down shelving, generators and safe rooms.

Fundraisers like Home for our Troops are a major source of income for Home for our Troops, according to its website.