Ride for Tomorrow to run through Havre Friday evening

Friday evening, Havre will host a stop on the path of the Second Annual Ride for Tomorrow, a 1,500 mile motorcycle ride being held to raise suicide prevention awareness and provide people education on how to identify people in crisis and find them the help they need.

Havre’s stop, run by the Eagles Club, will be at Zip Trip on First Street and will provide food and beverages to the riders and provide information to people about suicide, how to spot signs and how to refer people to resources.

Eagles Auxiliary President Candace Dess said this is the first time she’s been involved in the event and she heard about it from Brian Carpenter, a local American Legion rider who will be participating along with fellow Legion riders Les Johnson and Josh Brown.

Carpenter said the ride is being organized by American Legion Post 4 in Billings and Dog Tag Buddies, an organization that trains and provides service dogs to veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

He said the event is geared toward veterans, but the information provided will help anyone and he’s hoping it may one day save someone’s life.

“Veteran suicide, that hits home for me because I’m a veteran and I suffer from PTSD,” he said. “I was able to get the knowledge and help that I needed to work past those issues, and now I’m trying to pay it forward.”

Carpenter said he participated in the inaugural ride last year, which featured 300-, 500- and 1,000-mile rides.

Last year he did the 1,000 miles and this year he’s going for the new 1,500-mile ride they’re offering.

He said he hopes the event doesn’t just raise awareness but gives people resources they can use to help someone who may not have been fortunate enough to have the information they needed to find help like he did.

“Most people are aware of suicide but not too many people know how to identify the signs and even less know where to refer somebody that’s in crisis,” he said.

Carpenter said ride organizers have been reaching out to community leaders along the route riders will travel, and many of them have gotten their local schools and their students involved with the education efforts, which has been great to see.

This year’s ride has seen a lot more people sign up, he said, and that seems to be the result of increasing awareness about the event, mostly through word of mouth, which has led to more communities getting involved.

He said information on the ride’s routes can be found on the Dog Tag Buddies website at https://dogtagbuddies.org/ride-for-tomorrow/ .

As for Havre’s stop, Dess said, her family has been touched by suicide, with her brother having taken his own life 18 years ago.

She said the event is a great cause.

“I thought it was a great thing to be a part of,” she said.

Dess said riders will be passing through Havre between 4 and 6 p.m. but it will probably be closer to 6.

She said Havre will be the riders’ last stop before they sleep in Glasgow and if the event keeps going on every year, she’d love to make Havre a regular stop for them.

She said everyone is welcome to come to their booth and she’s looking forward to the event.