Meet The New Rider # 1170 Lee Kibbee

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The three most important and sacred things in my life are God, Country and Family.  God is always first, but much to my wife's dismay the other two are interchangeable because neither can flourish without the other. 

As an avid motorcycle rider I was introduced to the LDR community through the Tour of Honor, America’s Ultimate Long Distance Rider, Ride to Eat Across the USA and Mile Monster Inc., challenges.  I became a member of the Iron Butt Association and have assisted several other riders on their quest to become members as well.  

I watched the 2022 Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge from the sidelines as riders I knew were disqualified, forced to withdraw or fought tooth and nail to get to the finish line.  Their fortitude and dedication to the challenge along with some other fortunate events sparked an interest and I began reading everything I could about Hoka Hey.  The more I learned the more I knew it was something I had to be a part of.  

It has always been important to me that we as a community stand up and honor our heroes of yesterday, paying tribute to the sacrifices both they and their families made for us.  However, it is equally important to me that we work to ease the burden and sacrifices being made by our heroes of today while simultaneously educating, mentoring and leading the next generation into a position to become the heroes of tomorrow.  As closely as these beliefs align with the vision of the Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenger I knew my charity needed to have a similar mission.  

                                                      

Friends In Service of Heroes (FISH) is a 501c3 non profit organization that does just that.  To date FISH has provided over 40 Service Dogs, 38 mobility devices, and 9 all terrain track chairs to Veterans to help them live their daily lives.  In addition FISH has assisted over 1,200 veterans financially and adopted over 600 military families during the holiday seasons.  However, FISH originally started as Food Industry Serving  Heroes with the goal of feeding our service men and women who were struggling.  This remains a pivotal part of FISH’s mission with over 8,000 meals provided to date with many of these meals going to disabled veterans and some of the 24% of active duty families who face food shortages each year.   

My campaign, Fill the Pantry with FISH, will be raising funds for FISH to stock food pantries on military installations in Kansas and Missouri.  The veterans and service members standing up for us shouldn’t have to worry about where their families' next meal is going to come from.  Let's help ease their burden.  Donations can be made for FISH right here!