What We Do
OUR MISSION:

     The Gold Star Ride Foundation will actively support, comfort and provide education benefits to Gold Star Families throughout the United States and will provide these things directly with personal visits via motorcycle; and we will support those other organizations that work to assist in these same activities.

     We do the work that our fallen heroes would do it they hadn't fallen for all our freedom.
     In 2016, The Gold Star Ride Foundation began with a simple idea: Remember the families of the fallen.

     Now we are approaching the end of our seventh year of doing just that.

     We met Joe, who didn't know he was a Gold Star Dad, when he stopped to help us with a broken motorcycle near the New York state line.

     We met Mary, who was told she didn't earn a Gold Star because her daughter, a US Marine, was killed when the Humvee, in which she was training, rolled over and killed her. "They" said she wasn't a Gold Star Mom. We said she was.

     We met a 12 year old who never got to know his dad. We did what his dad would have done, and helped with tuition.

     We helped more than 60 families in 2018, when we met with them in person on our national motorcycle Ride for Gold Star Families. In 2019, we logged another 15,000 miles or so, raising the number of families that we helped to nearly 100! In 2020, 2021, and so far in 2022, we've continued to meet with families. We've now met with more than 450.

     Sometimes, all we had to do was show up. Sometimes, we paid the rent so a family who had given a life for all of us to be free would not go homeless. In one case, we got a house for a homeless family. In another case, we found nursing care for an aging Gold Star Dad. Another family said they didn't want anything, but we filled their refrigerator and helped them get some new clothes.  Yet another Gold Star Family received a grant to help them get a new car.

     The Gold Star Ride Foundation averages 10 Gold Star Families a month, every month. 

     And we have honored families made Gold Star by every conflict since WWII.

     We are not bogged down by red tape. If there is a need for a Gold Star Family, we do all we can to fill it.  We try to do it on a motorcycle, so we can meet the family in person, and make some noise with our bikes. We keep working.

With your continued support, we will meet everyone's needs.

     If you know a family, tell them about us. We do not seek to violate the privacy of any Gold Star Family, and we are here to help. Half or more of the families we met requested that we keep it quiet. We're happy to do that.

     As you know, The Gold Star Ride Foundation is a 501(c)3 organization, which works to honor and support Gold Star Families across the United States. In 2020, 73% of ALL CONTRIBUTIONS went directly to helping Gold Star Families: during Covid.  In 2021, we made it to 78%. In 2022, we hit 82.1% of all money coming in going out. But our goal is 85% or better. 

     By comparison, WWP collected $287.6M and paid out $57M in grants, while another $75.6M went to corporate salaries, which translates to less than 20% of their money paid to veterans.  This information was taken from their TAX RETURN. Their website, by contrast, says they spent $197M on veterans. That's a 140 Million Dollar difference. Should you believe them (what their website says) , or them (what their tax return says), because they can't both be right, can they?

     Folds of Honor, according to their tax documents, collected $35M in contributions and paid out $16M in grants to vets families and $5M in corporate salaries which translates to a little over 40% going to help the families they say they support and nearly 15% going into their pockets.

     How is it that we can put 78% out to the families during a Covid year when all income was down?

     Simple.  We are all volunteers. We have no internal salaries to support.

(Incidentally, the executive director of the Gold Star Ride Foundation is, himself, a disabled warrior.  When applying for benefits from WWP, he was summarily denied any help because he served during the First Gulf War (Dessert Storm).  Apparently, you have to have served after 9/11 to qualify.)

     After five years of riding, the Gold Star Ride Foundation has logged over 123,000 miles on a motorcycle; we've stopped in all 48 of the lower United States at least 4 times each; we've crashed twice; and

     We've personally met with 498 Gold Star Families.

     That's an average of 100 per year; nearly 10 per month - that we've met in person.

     Imagine what it is like to personally meet 10 people every month who you have never met before, who have all suffered a death in the family, and you are there to remember that fallen hero.
 
     Yeah, there are a few tears.

     We Ride Because They Died.

     #What did you do today?

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