The fifth annual Ride For The Fallen, sponsored by the Peace Officers’ Memorial Foundation (POMF), was held Saturday, May 13 in Austin. This year’s even was the biggest in its history, attracting nearly 400 motorcycle riders from across the state and raising more than $12,000.

POMF Director Carol Whitfield said the annual ride is the Foundation’s biggest fundraiser. Other fundraisers include a 5-K run and a golf tournament. The Foundation also sells memorabilia to raise money, she said.

Money raised by the Foundation provides financial assistance for families of officers who are killed in the line of duty, and also funds a scholarship program for officers, their spouses and their children. To date, 26 scholarships have been awarded.

In addition to providing financial assistance and funding scholarships, the Foundation also sponsors a memorial service on the state capitol grounds in Austin during each legislative session. The service honors peace officers throughout the state who have made the ultimate sacrifice, and attracts thousands from all across Texas.
           
The names of the fallen are engraved on the Texas Peace Officers' Memorial, which sits on the grounds of the state capitol, is engraved with the names of officers dating back to the 1800's. The foundation also funds research to find and honor all fallen peace officers throughout Texas history, so that they might also be memorialized.

The Ride for the Fallen was begun in 2002 and was one of the first fundraisers established to raise money for the Peace Officers’ Memorial Foundation.

This year’s ride kicked off at 10:30 a.m. in Austin. The route took riders through the Hill Country, with stops in Wimberly, Blanco, Luckenbach and Johnson City. The ride concluded at the Nutty Brown Café west of Austin. The last bike came in at 5 p.m.

At the end of the ride, drawings were held for door prizes. Riders also heard from representatives of other clubs, including the Reguladores law enforcement motorcycle club.

The Reguladores are annual participants in this ride, and this year contributed $6,200 to the Foundation. The club has more than 300 members in eight chapters across Texas, and numerous other chapters across the United States. The club also has one chapter in Italy whose members are mainly military police.

The club was represented in this year’s ride by members from the Corpus Christi, Hill Country, Austin and Lone Star chapters.

Sgt. Ron Zirbes of the Corpus Christi Police Department and one of the founders of the Reguladores, said his club participates in the Ride for the Fallen every year.

“It’s a good cause,” he said. “We have brothers all over the state, and we want too show support for them. There’s not a whole lot of people who back us, so we need to support our own,” he said.

Zirbes said his chapter held a raffle this year to raise money for the memorial, “We raffled off a dirt bike and trailer,” he said. “We paid for the bike and trailer and what was left over went to the foundation.”

Another notable presence at this year’s ride was a group of 155 riders from Fort Hood. Whitfield said, “They found out about our ride and want to start one of their own to honor fallen military police.” With their matching t-shirts, Whitfield said the Fort Hood group was an impressive sight.