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Let me tell you a little story about a great group of people. I am a member of
the Gold Wing Road Riders Association (GWRRA). One of the many benefits of being
a part of this association is the message boards that they host on their web
site, www.gwrra.org. There are several areas
of the message board where you can get some great technical information from
experienced members, garner tips on different areas of the hobby, read some
great jokes, as well as some ramblings on politics or buy or sell a motorcycle
or parts. Recently there was a post put in the "Wanted" section of the
message board. A woman, Linda Hines from Ohio, was looking for someone who was
selling a Gold Wing and might be in position to finance it, themselves. The
reasons were that when Linda had recently been sick, her husband, Bill, had sold
his 1996 SE (Big Red) to pay for the medical cost. She was upset about this
since Big Red was Bill's retirement present to himself. She is doing better now
and is able to make payments, just not the high payments that would be required
by a bank or lending institution.
Well, a fellow winger, Joe in Ga, saw the ad and posted a remark about it in
the General section of the message board. Shortly, another winger, Tommy, jumped
in and said that he had his wallet in hand and what could we do to get this
family back. Greg Hayden started handling the collection. To make a long story
short, with-in 3 weeks we had collected enough to purchase another 96 SE for
Bill. Update, 11/08/2002. I
found out today that we have found and purchased a 1998 Se with an extended
warranty good until 2005. Actually, we raised more than enough. There are
plans to present Big Red II to Bill on November 9, 2002. The big catch here is
that Bill doesn't even know this is happening. He doesn't get on the Internet.
There are over 120 people attending this presentation, from all over the
country. (Special tip of the hat to Rob Perna for handling all the head
counting.)
The original thread on the message board went to over 550 posts, before it
had to be removed from the web site. It was taking up way too much space and
slowing the board down. I was able to obtain a complete copy of the post and
have posted it here for posterity. I have also posted all of the rest of the
miscellaneous threads that have followed. I will attempt to keep these as up to
date as possible.
So, If you have a few hours, sit back and read a true story about how a group
of strangers, bound only by their love of a motorcycle, rallied together to help
another person. |
