The power of trike brotherhood please read this

[ditchmud]

This isn't about trikes, but about the power of brotherhood. If you are a member here and you ride trikes than you are a brother.
2 years ago I lost a friend named Sam. ATCSam here on the boards. Sam often went to trike events and races like Trikefest and Smith road etc. Well last week I found out that 2 years later Sam still had no headstone at his grave. I was upset and I vowed to do something about it. I talked with a few members here and came up with a plan. I always take pictures and offer prints for sale but this time it was different. All proceeds were going to get our friend a marker. Sales went through the roof. Captain wheezy donated a banner, and we auctioned it off and also a framed picture that I had made. People dug deep at the awards ceromony at Trikefest and we cleared $1500 that night for Sam.

On my way home from Trikefest I called SAMs father and told him what we had done and our intentions. He was rather silent and said he wanted to speak with the family and that he would get back with me. Monday morning I went to the funeral home and picked out some stones and designs and I was pleased to discover that we had already raised enough money to complete what we set out to do.

Today I met with SAMs family and showed them some designs and with a couple of changes we came to an agreement on a final design that I need to submit to get sketched up. I want to thank all of the people at Trikefest that donated to this cause and to let you all know that we did it! All money that is collected now will go to SAMs daughters to a trust fund. Thank you again friends!

[Xowner]

I wanna say way to go everyone too! I seen people reaching into there pockets to give money knowing i had just talk to them earlier about how it was gonna be ruff getting home on the gas money they had in there pockets!!!

GREAT JOB GUYS!

[DasUberKraut]

Absolutely beautiful. Such a great story. I love reading stuff like this!

[ATC-Eric]

Your such a good dude Rich. Im glad to have you as a friend! And of course good job everyone for donating!

[thestud25]

Rich, you are a great guy and member! In cases like this I have no problem donating to the cause. I am just glad that Sam will finally have a headstone that accurately represents him as a person, father and friend. Great work!

[RIDE-RED 250r]

Ya know, for a site packed with a bunch of "outlaws", there sure are alot of big hearts here!

[ditchmud]

I am bumping this back to the top!

[knsmodels]

Awesome story.....way to go DM

[ditchmud]

Ok, I guess that is time for a little update:

It has taken a little bit of time here to finalize everything but Sam's headstone should be delivered to it's place by the end of this month! It is going to be a Jet Black slanted marker that will have His picture etched into the stone at the top. The picture chosen is one that I took of Sam. He was airborn off of a jump on a trike of course, and waiving three fingers at the camera. Below that it will have his name. The next line will say Father, Son, Brother, Friend, and the final line will be his dates. Now Sam left behind 2 beautiful daughters and on the back of his headstone will be a special message that they have written to their Daddy with their handprints.

Now after everything was all paid for we still had $373 dollars left. To make things easier to divide I just made it an even $400 for his daughters, $200 each. That's a pretty nice gift for them that they are going to use for school clothes and supplies that they need. More important than the money is that we gave his daughters a place that they can go be with their Daddy. A place that they can be proud of and for everyone to see what Sam was all about.

The family wants to THANK EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOU! Whether you donated to this cause or not our concern for Sam and his family has shown the true character of what friends are. I would also like to thank you all! When Sam's headstone is placed I will post pictures for you all to see what we accomplished. Thank You and God Bless you all!

[atc007]

You know how I feel Rich. Great job my friend. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. How are those little ones doing anyhow?

[CRAZY70MAN]

Great job Rich and all who helped out. Brings tears to my eyes reading that......... That speaks volumes about this forum and the 3 wheeler community. Best guys and gals you will ever meet. Thanks for all the footwork buddy.......

[captainweezy]

Something to really be proud of. Thanks rich your truly an awesome friend.

[just ben]

Great job Rich and all who helped out. Brings tears to my eyes reading that......... That speaks volumes about this forum and the 3 wheeler community. Best guys and gals you will ever meet. Thanks for all the footwork buddy.......

You saved me some typing. You nailed everything I felt and would have said.

[ditchmud]

Well folks it's 9 months late and it is incomplete, but our brother Sam finally has a beautiful marker that we can be proud of. The picture of Sam that was to be engraved was not done. The guy that sold me this headstone has lied to me time after time. He has more excuses than I can stand anymore. As I said this is 9 months late and we have become a real thorn in this guys side to get where we are today. He told me that they are working on getting another artist to do the engraving on site. In fortunately I do not trust him nor believe him but I am forced to extend another deadline. I plan on giving him until July 1st to complete this project. In the mean time I will search for our own artist to be ready to finish this project. Then I will be forced to file a lawsuit to recover any costs.

This has been a trying ordeal for me and my patience has worn thin. That was until I spoke to the mother of SAMs daughters today. I informed her that it was finally in place but that it was incomplete. It hurt me to tell her that after all they have been through and that made me even more angry at the headstone dealer. Later I sent a text to Nichole and asked her how the girls liked their daddy's marker. My heart melted when she told me how happy that it made them and that SAMs youngest daughter was so happy that they were forced by her to visit longer because she didn't want to leave. Well that made me cry and heck I'm crying now as I type this just at the thought of it all.

We did it folks, all of us with donations, encouragement, phone calls etc. we made our brother's children happy and no words can describe his families gratitude. Thank you all, and I will post more pictures when it is finally completed.

[MRSOUND]

Seen this on FB last night Rich. Thanks for your persistence. Not much can be said that hasn't already been brought up. You are great asset to our community and I'll leave it at that.
Mike