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Michelle Mallin Retires as Executive Director of Honor Bell

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To donate and support the Honor Bell click here

Michelle Mallin has been at the forefront of every aspect of the Honor Bell’s creation and operation since 2014 when she helped to begin the bell’s journey from an idea into a reality. A connector of people and organizations par excellence, she brought an energy and level of experience to the Foundation that was essential.

Michelle Mallin Executive Director

In 2018, Michelle was named the Executive Director for the Foundation and has shepherded its growth and operations even under the trying circumstances of the COVID pandemic in 2020. Since a 2016 cancer diagnosis Michelle has been not only helping to keep the bell tolling, volunteers organized, and fundraising flowing, but has been dealing with surgeries, complications, and treatments. Through it all, she has remained committed to the Honor Bell’s mission. Last December, Michelle decided that it was time to step down as Executive Director to focus on her health and family. She will remain involved with the Foundation as a member of the Board of Directors.

The Honor Bell has been seen many times at Veteran events at Dirty Dogs

Effective immediately, Chris Boyer will take on the role of Executive Director. Chris has been serving as Assistant Director for several months and has been involved in day-to-day operations, strategic planning, and more since he started

THonor Bell Foundation, Inc. is a Colorado nonprofit, 501(c)(3) corporation based in Denver. Its primary purpose is to provide a unique funeral honor for deceased military veterans through the slow ringing, known as tolling, of a ceremonial bell. The foundation also provides veteran outreach and community education.

To accomplish this mission, the Foundation produced the Honor Bell and renders “Bell Honors” at the funerals of U.S. military veterans and personnel killed in action to augment the dignity and respect that should be paid to those that have served our nation. In addition, the bell attends public events with a military or patriotic theme, and tolls in a memorial capacity. The foundation’s volunteers also attend programs in schools to educate young people about the significance of dignity, honor and respect owed to our military and fallen heroes.

Editors Note: As President and Founder of the BikerDown Foundation and Editor of Colorado Rider News – I was honored to do this article for Michelle, but very sad for our community. Many do not know, that Michelle was an intrical part of founding BikerDown in 2010, and was an integral part of the structure of BikerDown that still is used today. I had a dream, and Michelle had the tools to implement it. She worked tirelessly thru the many nights to always meet the deadlines that we had. In fact, she ran another non-profit simultaneously while helping me found BikerDown. While I respect her desire to want to spend time with her grandchildren and family, our community has lost a hero. Her devotion to this community is beyond words and I wish her all the best.

BikerDown’s Adopt a Family for Holidays Meets Goals with Help from Special Donor

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Adopt a Family raised over $14k for families in need!

There is nothing more stressful than the holidays for families, whether it is the COVID world that we currently live in with job layoffs, food service industry shutdowns and in-home learning requiring 1 family member to not work.   Also, the normal high cost of living in Denver and surrounding areas makes it difficult for any extras each month.  Gone are the days, when a family can put a little away every month, or the Christmas savings accounts one used to open every year to save for the holidays.  Families struggle every year to provide the kind of Christmas that all children deserve.

BikerDown Foundation saw the need in the motorcycle community 10 years ago and implemented a holiday program called Adopt A Family for the Holidays.  Since its inception BikerDown thru Adopt A Family has helped over 500 families have the resources to provide Christmas for their children.

Each family in the program receives a $250 Walmart gift card and partnered with Walmart to provide a full holiday dinner and to ensure that children have food to get them thru the New Year.  What makes our program different is they allow donors to see their donations at work by meeting with the families, reading about their circumstances and getting to personally meet them at our Dinner with Santa. 

Their goal in 2020 was to help as many families as they could but to also be realistic that everyone in our community was struggling and that donations could possibly be down this year.  Adopt A Family even limited the number of families that could apply to 40 families, from the normal 75-100.  BikerDown Adopt A Family also expanded their reach in 2019 to include the Las Vegas BikerDown chapter which each year has reached their family goals with the guidance of Shannon Venturo from Full Throttle Law & Bling Devas, MC, Cheryl from Original Sinners, MC and the Southern Nevada Confederation of Clubs.

On December 11, 2020, with 2 weeks away from Christmas, they began to get very worried that they just would not meet the goal of helping 40 families. On Wednesday, December 16, Laurie Montoya, President and Founder of BikerDown and Adopt A Family, received a phone call that she will never forget.
Michael Lord, a local Denver entrepreneur, called to adopt the last 4 families in our program. Mike then asked if there were any other families that they could help. In a matter of minutes, Mike and his co-workers adopted 10 additional families that were on the waitlist!

The program would be remiss to not recognize all the Colorado donors of this program, that each year make sure to adopt at least 1-2 families.  These biker community donors have been the back bone of our program for 10 years and Adopt a Family would not have been able to survive and increase our help without their commitment every year.  We would like to give special recognition to Scott O’Sullivan from RiderJustice.com and The O’Sullivan Law firms, Greg & Brooklyn Chmel, Art and Khris Cleveland, Derek from Ironwood Earthcare, BO Martinez, Skip Hohnhorst, Eli Ohlauser, Deborah Thomas, Kevin Maki, and all of you who attended the November Chili cook off.  You are truly a blessing to this program.

Adopt A Family will continue the mission in 2021 and we look forward to bigger and better events that will enable us to extend our reach to more and more families.


We will all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  I hope you will raise your glass and join me in say FAREWELL to 2020.

SAVE THE DATE – Holiday Events

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As the holiday season begins, we are committed to posting all upcoming events for November – December. For more information on these events, please contact them directly. If you would like your event to be added to this list, please email us at info@coloradoridernews.com

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Adopt-A-Family for the Holidays – Nominations are open until November 30th

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Please visit our website for more information

BikerDown Foundation is in our 9th year of Adopting Families for the Holidays program.  The program started with the desire to help 2 families that had suffered a tragic loss due to a motorcycle fatality.  While we knew we couldn’t replace the loss they were feeling, we could ensure that the family wasn’t alone and that the children had Christmas under the tree.

The Adopt-a-Family program has helped almost 450 families over the years and the need for families in the Denver and surrounding areas continues to grow as rent and the cost of living increases.   In 2020 due to COVID-19, this has affected many families in ways they could not imagine.  Many parents are still not back to work, children cannot attend school and parents are forced to stay home.

As we enter the holiday season many of us begin to feel joy and excitement as we get closer to Thanksgiving and Christmas.  However, for many families in our community, they begin to WORRY about how they are going to make their children’s Christmas wishes would come true.

This year the Adopt-a-Family program is going back to our grass roots and have limited each state to 25 families to ensure that we meet our goal of fundraising.  We see this as a challenging year for all.

BikerDown with the help of Dirty Dogs Roadhouse in Golden will host a Freezin for a Reason Chili Cook off and Toy Drive on November 28th after Thanksgiving and Black Friday.  All teams are encouraged to pre-register for this event and we will have great prizes for the winners.

Adopt-A-Family has not yet determined their ability to hold the Lunch/Dinner with Santa which is where we normally distribute the gifts to the families.  We will work very hard to manage a program that meets local guidelines and continue to make the event the BEST that we can make it.

All of this wouldn’t be possible without the help of Walmart, Rider Justice, BikerDown sponsors, riders and our biker owned business supporters, each family receives a $250.00 Walmart  gift card.  Adopt-a-Family has a direct line to Santa Claus and he always comes to visit the children and bring some gifts for them.

This year we are on an aggressive fundraising effort to help over 75 families, but we need your help, if you would like to Donate to our program please visit our website at  www.adoptafamilytoday.org.  This website is also where we ask all families to request adoption.

Winners of BikerDown’s Customized Wheelchair Competition

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Motorcycle Awareness and bringing unity to the biker community is the Mission of the BikerDown Foundation. Saturday, October 17th, Five (5) teams from the riding community gathered at Dirty Dogs Roadhouse in Golden to present their customized wheelchairs. Another phase of the day was a medical equipment drive to collect additional medical equipment that BikerDown loans out to the injured riders in the Colorado community.

RiderJustice.com is the advocacy arm of the O’Sullivan Law firm one of the premier motorcycle law firms in Colorado

Sponsor Rider Justice had donated 10 standard wheelchairs to get the competition started and to ensure that all teams had the same wheelchair to work with. The teams had several months to use their creativity and get their club, ministry or groups message reflected in the wheelchair. Teams were judged on their creativity, usefulness of the wheelchair and overall presentation

1st place and People’s choice winner Soldier’s for Jesus Colorado

The 1st place winner of the competition and People’s choice winner was Soldier’s for Jesus of Colorado. Their chair showed so much creativity and was completely functional for an injured rider because the whole electric chair design came off so that the injured rider could use it.

2nd Place went to Biker’s For Justice an group that helps abused children in the Denver area

2nd place was given to Biker’s for Justice a riding group that helps abused children here in Denver. Thomas Train was their inspiration for their customized wheelchair and Fuzz, Founder of Rider Justice pulled out all the stops with steam coming out the train pipe, a track for Thomas and a bell to let everyone know that Thomas the Train is riding thru. This wheelchair is so amazing, that BikerDown has asked Biker’s for Justice to work with us to donate the chair to Children’s Hospital in Denver, so that a child in the hospital might get to enjoy Thomas.

3rd Place went to the Sober Souls, MC – Sober Souls is a motorcycle club that enjoys a sober life and helps anyone in their journey to recovery.

Sober Souls, MC – 3rd place – This was one of CRN’s favorites because every time you came to see their booth, you found something else they had done to customize this chair including but not limited to the brass nuts, and brass knuckles on the arm rests. BikerDown Foundation has had a long standing friendship with the Sober Souls, MC and we were so honored that they participated in this competition.

Christian Riders in Faith spared no expense on this candy apple red HD wheelchair

All teams were WINNERS in this event and we want to give a special mention to the Christian Riders in Faith motorcycle ministry who really got creative in their wheelchair from the leg rests to the split HD tank on the sides or the arm rest. The paint job was amazing, and I just know that they next injured riders will be rocking this beautiful red wheelchair.

420 from Valiants MC North had but 2 weeks to customize this FAST wheelchair.

Honorable Mention goes to 420 from the Valiants MC for their customized wheelchair. 420 did an outstanding job of customizing this wheelchair and while most people didn’t know this they were a last minute entry and only had 2 weeks to get their chair done. A HUGE thank you to everyone from the Valiants MC, they have over 10 years of supporting BikerDown and are 1 of the reasons that this organization exists.

After the event and awards were distributed there was a rumor between the teams that they wanted to RACE their wheelchairs around Dirty Dogs. It was finally decided that the teams would do 2 laps around the Dirty Dogs. You quickly learn how difficult it is to get around on a wheelchair, so some of the contestants got a little help from their team members.

All in all it was an amazing day and because of these teams efforts, BikerDown has 5 new cool wheelchairs to donate to injured riders. They also were able to fill their trailer with donated medical equipment including a almost brand new Electric Scooter donated by Jocelyn Cavender who contacted Home Medical Supplies in Lone Tree for the donation.

Custom Wheelchair Competition set for October 17th – Medical Equipment Needed

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The contest is on!  The wheelchairs have been given to the clubs, organizations and biker owned businesses and BikerDown is looking forward to hosting our 1st Annual Customized Wheelchair Competition on Saturday, October 17th from 1pm to 5pm at Dirty Dogs Roadhouse.

2020 BD Las Vegas winner

In February 2020 we launched this competition in our BikerDown chapter of Las Vegas Nevada, and the response was overwhelming.  10 teams competed and each team really pulled out all the stops.  Tents were set up and the creativity of their booths almost outshined the amazing work each team did on the wheelchairs.

The premise of this event is to gather medical equipment for our charity.  As many of you know, for 10 years BikerDown has been supplying much needed medical equipment to injured riders in the Colorado area.   We decided this year to include the biker community and to try to make a medical equipment fundraiser FUN. 

No injured riders ever wants to recover in a wheelchair, they are depressing and the only motivation a wheelchair gives you, is how fast can you get out of it.  Our customized wheelchairs have given our riding community great joy and put a smile on their faces during one of the toughest moments in their life.  The injured rider also gets to SEE that a group, club, or organization/business took the time to jazz up a wheelchair and show the community we care about you.

All medical equipment is needed

In 2020, due to COVID-19, BikerDown Colorado began to run out of wheelchairs and the other much needed medical equipment such as shower seats, toilet seat risers and walker.  We are hoping that this event on the 17th will replenish the needed medical equipment that we need to help riders until the end of the year.

A special THANK YOU to Rider Justice and The O’Sullivan Law firm for their continued support of helping injured motorcycle riders.  RiderJustice.com donated 10 brand new wheelchairs for this competition and sponsored the trophies. 

So, if you have any gently used but good working condition medical equipment, please bring it to Dirty Dogs Roadhouse on October 17th and vote for the BEST Customized Wheelchair!

6th Annual Hornbuckle Foundation

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Hornbuckle Foundation and the Sober Souls Motorcycle Club teamed up, once again, for their 6th Annual Poker Run. Over 200 bikes and another 200 people showed up in force for the cause. Hornbuckle Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit with a Sober Living Placement and Recovery Coaching Program that helps those struggling with substance abuse find their recovery path to long-term recovery.

The run started at Renegade Classics and ended at Dirty Dogs Roadhouse in Golden, CO. Kai Turner from 103.5 The Fox was the MC, a custom Michael Hornbuckle, Delaney guitar was live auctioned, and nearly $20,000 was raised for their program. It was an amazing turn out and for many, a great escape for a great cause!  

10 Teams Compete: Customized Wheelchair Competition

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2020 has been one of the most challenging years for any non-profit or small business owner with COVID-19 hitting our community here in Colorado and nationwide. As Executive Director of BikerDown, my job is to get as creative as possible with fundraising activities and I believe that this wheelchair competition shows how a small non-profit can think outside the box.

BikerDown is planning our first medical equipment drive and fundraiser through an exciting contest where competing groups submit customized wheelchairs for prizes. All attendees of the event are encouraged to clear out some storage space and donate gently-used medical equipment to BikerDown so that we can replenish our equipment and help even more injured bikers.

September 5, 2020

On September 5th at the Can You SEE me Now motorcycle awareness ride, 10 teams of motorcycle clubs, riding groups and bike builders will show just how creative they can get with a standard wheelchair and present their final customized wheelchair in bike-show fashion Teams will compete for prizes and trophies and the coveted People’s Choice award. BikerDown has brought in 3 great judges to judge the competition and the attendees at will vote for their favorite teams’ wheelchair.

This is a new innovative way to add medical equipment to our arsenal to help injured riders. An injured rider will never be charged for medical equipment from BikerDown. A motorcycle rider recovering never wants to be in a wheelchair, but when we bring them these tricked out chairs, they always have a smile on their faces because they know it was created with love and respect.

Thank you to Rider Justice for continuing their sponsorship of the Look Twice Save A Life Ride and for helping with our medical equipment drive here in Colorado buy buying wheelchairs for this competition. (Also, at the Sept. 5 event, Rider Justice will be drawing for the winner of the Honda Monkey!)

The Original Wheelchair Competition

The wheelchair competition was 1st launched in February by our Las Vegas BikerDown Chapter to build inventory for this start-up chapter.  Executive Director, Cerah Venturo and Dazzlin 2-wheel division Manager from Vegas sponsor Full Throttle Law created a tremendous event and brought the motorcycle community together to make this a fun event with a DJ, food and a medical equipment rodeo. Not only did the chapter have 10 amazing chairs at the end of the day, but the community donated so much medical equipment, that they had to rent a 26 ft. U-Haul to get it to the storage garage.

BikerDown is celebrating our 10th year of helping injured motorcycle riders and hosts the National chapter.  It is our hope that the Colorado riding community will come out on September 5th, enjoy a great ride, and share our hope to do everything our community can to help injured motorcycle riders with their recovery.

We still have a few spots available for this competition, if you are interested, please contact Laurie Montoya: laurie@bikerdown.org.  

If you have any gently used medical equipment, bring that equipment Saturday, September 5th to Dirty Dogs Roadhouse and donate it at our collection area.

Freedom Fest Mini

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When Colorado Freedom Festival was forced to cancel its show at the JeffCo Fairgrounds, Dean Gary reached out to Dirty Dogs Roadhouse to try and salvage the annual event in some capacity. With swift action, Freedom Fest Mini was created and took place on June 20th at our favorite Golden biker bar. Guests were admitted with a donation that would be distributed to Veteran charities. Thank you to everyone for your generous donations to support our nation’s heroes!

Photos courtesy of Luke Wyckoff

#2Wheels4Meals – Donations

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Our program to support local businesses is gaining steam. Because of the gaining interest – and to help people maintain social distancing by staying at home – BikerDown has started a fundraiser through their fundraising platform. As a non-profit, they are experienced at managing donations and distribution of funds.

DONATE HERE

Dirty Dogs Roadhouse has really stepped up to the plate with effort promoting our program that aims at feeding those in our community in need and first responders.