The Republic of Texas Bikers Rally wraps us Sunday, but local bikers continue to make their impact on Austin. Dark Horse -- a Harley Davidson motorcycle group -- is riding to raise money for the Texas School for the Blind. They're hosting a Poker Run.
The goal is to help visually-impaired students experience what it's like to ride a bike.
News 8 Austin’s Jennifer Bordelon spoke with Gloria Bennett from the Texas School for the Blind and Ron Szary from the Harley riding group Dark Horse about how to make riding a bike a reality for visually impaired students.
Again, the Poker Run takes place June 19 at Hardcore Custom Cycles. If you'd like to donate items for the silent auction or join in the fun as a rider, contact the Texas School for the Blind at (512) 454-8631.
Q: Why has your group donated to the Texas School for the Blind for the past three years?
Ron: Well essentially, other than just being out for the ride, our group decided to put something together for the community. So, Dark Horse was just down the street – back then it was Hardcore Riders – it was just down the street from the Texas School for the Blind and one day I said, ‘that looks like a good thing.’
Q: How has student interaction with the Harley riders over the years helped them?
Gloria: Well, this has been a wonderful benefit for us to have had them down the street and to have chosen us because one of the ways it has benefited our kids is that we are planning a roadway village playground. We decided that a new playground would be revolving around riding bicycles and riding go carts instead of swings that sort of things because often times visually impaired and blind children don’t get a chance to do any riding. And so when the Hardcore Riders offered us money, we said, ‘we go this roadway we’d like to have some carts for,’ and boy that just fit in – motorcycles – wheels are wheels, no matter who you are talking about. So, our kids had the benefit of their money to buy the carts for us and we’re hoping to go ahead and finish some of the rest of the roadway village with the money they raised this year on this year’s ride.
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Poker run
Dark Horse -- a motorcycle club in Austin -- is raising money for the Texas School for the Blind.
 
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Q: What is the Poker Run and how much money do you expect to raise?
Ron: I can’t tell you, it depends on the weather, money wise. If it’s a good day, we hope to exceed last year’s total, which I believe was somewhere in the neighborhood of $12,000 or $1,200 or $1,600. But at any rate, our activities start at Hardcore Custom Cycles, 10 o’clock in the morning. There’s a poker run and it ends at Big Dave’s and there are silent auctions, loud auctions, we’re having 50/50 drawings, poker winnings are distributed, door prizes. It’s just a huge affair. We expect to have in excess of 500 bikes this year.
