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Rescue Ride is making a stop in Bartlesville and you can be a part of this historic ride across America that is raising awareness about homelessness.

Organizer Brandan Thomas and his crew invite you to accompany them on Tuesday, Oct. 1st at the Lighthouse Outreach Center in Bartlesville. The shelter is located at 1411 W Hensley Blvd.

Lunch and biker fellowship will take place at the event set for 11:30 a.m. next Tuesday. You can bring your own motorcycle and ride as far or as near to their final destination at Skid Row in Los Angeles as you’d like.

When Pastor Thomas stops with his crew of cross-country motorcyclists in Fort Smith, AR, to pay respects at his father’s grave, it will mark the convergence of elements in his life that he never imagined would intersect.

As the director of the Winchester Rescue Mission, a shelter for individuals experiencing homelessness, Thomas, 34, has become aware of the foundational role of mental illness in chronic homelessness.

And as a son, he suffered the consequences of the schizophrenia and mania that disabled his father, from whom he was estranged for a decade. On Friday, Sept. 27th, Thomas and seven additional cyclists will leave Winchester for a cross-country trip they have named the Rescue Ride, stopping at homeless shelters nationwide, including in:

• Roanoke, VA;
• Knoxville, Nashville and Memphis, TN;
• Little Rock, and Fayetteville, AR;
• Wichita and Colby, KS;
• Denver, CO;
• Albuquerque, NM;
• Phoenix, AZ;
• Las Vegas, NV, and concluding in at Skid Row in Los Angeles, the most severely affected site for homelessness in the United States. It is estimated that more than 17,000 homeless people live in this four-mile area.

The purpose of the Rescue Ride is to spread the story of homelessness nationally, while gathering new ideas from missions everywhere that are grappling with the issue. In an August 20 interview, live on the Dr. Drew radio program, Thomas discussed the Rescue Ride within the broader context of homelessness.

Straddling a Harley is a step beyond that last marathon event for homelessness awareness that Thomas staged, a 24-hour park bench sit-in, in front of the rescue mission, at which community members were invited to stop and share their stories.

Contributors are supporting the Rescue Ride, particularly Grove’s Winchester Harley Davidson, which is providing Thomas with a new Harley-Davidson Ultra-Light motorcycle for the trip.

The Rescue Ride is expected to take 12 days, with Thomas and his crew overnighting in homeless shelters as they go. A concluding event with Rev. Andy Bales at the Union Rescue Mission in Los Angeles is scheduled for Oct. 9.

The ride will be recorded on video and livestreamed on the mission’s website, winrescue.org, and on its Facebook page. A documentary will be cut from the footage for release later.    

To RSVP for the event in Bartlesville at the Lighthouse Outreach Center, call 918.336.9029.