Biker Club Raises Money For Amish Following Tragic Crash

A motorcycle club has done a charity ride to help the family of Amish from Burke’s Garden, Virginia killed in an accident in March.

Nine people were killed in the crash in Wisconsin, including seven members of the Burke’s Garden Amish community, their van driver, and the driver of a semi truck. One boy survived the crash thanks to the efforts of a former active duty Marine who happened to be on the scene.

Memorial crosses for the accident victims. Image: Rick Barrett/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The organization, called (according to WVVA News), The Punisher Winding Road biker club of Tazewell (or maybe “Punishers Law Enforcement Motorcycle Club”, going by their banner), is a relatively new chapter which consists of “law enforcement, first responders and anyone else that has an interest in serving the community.”

And it sounds like this isn’t the first event they’ve done that has involved the Amish. One of the club’s leaders, sergeant-at-arms Kody Thomas, had this to say:

Thomas says the Amish community has been helpful and supportive of their chapter, so now in their time of need, he says that this charity ride is the least they can do.

“It’s really a big blessing for us to go over there and participate with them, and their community center and stuff puts on a lot of stuff for us.” He said. “It’s the least we can do to give back to them and kind of help their community after the tragedy they experienced.”

Based on the popular perception, you probably wouldn’t think of motorcycle clubs being involved with the Amish, but we’re all humans and people of all walks want to come together and help out when tragedy strikes.

Burke’s Garden, Virginia is home to a small Amish community.

And at the risk of stating the obvious, certainly not all motorcycle clubs are associated with crime like some of the high-profile examples people might be familiar with. So it’s nice to see this positive story of cooperation between the Amish and motorcycle enthusiasts, especially coming in contrast to a much more negative recent story.

Kudos to this group for their efforts to help out!

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2 Comments

  1. K.D.

    Biker Club Helps Amish

    Hi Erik,

    But in what way did the biker club help the Amish? You weren’t very
    specific. Did they raise money or something? Thanks for the story.
    Mutual aid is always nice to hear about, especially among such diverse
    groups.

    1. Erik Wesner

      Wish I could add more! Info in the linked source article/video was quite limited – “Charity ride” is how it was described.