The Police Unity Tour

My blogging buddy Connie @ Shawnsbidness asked if I would be so kind as to pass along word of a charity event that a friend of hers is participating in for the second year in a row. The event is called the Police Unity Tour and her friend rides with Chapter VIII of the Tour. The primary purpose of the Police Unity Tour is to raise awareness of the law enforcement officers who have died in the line of duty and to honor their sacrifices (a topic that is near and dear to my heart and sidebar!) with a secondary purpose of raising funds to assist the National Law Enforcement Officer's Memorial and Museum in Washington D.C.

The Police Unity Tour was organized in 1997 by Officer Patrick P. Montuore of the Florham Park Police Department, New Jersey and is an annual bicycle trek from various points across the United States ending at the Memorial in Washington D.C. Since its first ride with 18 riders making a four-day fund-raising bicycle ride from Florham Park, New Jersey to the National Law Enforcement Memorial to the latest 2007 ride with over 1,000 members nationwide making the trip, the Tour has raised over 4.35 million dollars for the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. The Tour's motto, "We ride for those who died", is a simple and yet poignant reminder of the more than 17,900 officers who have been died in the line of duty since 1792.

If you would like to donate to the Police Unity Tour of Florida and help out Connie's friend who is taking part in the ride that starts out on May 10th and arrives in Washington D.C. during National Police Week (which runs from May 11th to 17th this year), you can click here to sponsor him and donate to this worthy cause. If you'd like to donate to a different chapter, then please visit the main web page for the Police Unity Tour where you can make a donation, view photos, sign the guest book, or link to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial web page where you can learn more about the men and women who have died in the line of duty protecting and serving their communities.

In honor of a dear friend of mine, Sergeant Timothy David White, a 12-year veteran of the Stockton California Police Department who died in the line of duty on February 4th, 1990 following an assault by a suspect he had been pursuing, I plan on most definitely making a donation towards this most worthwhile cause and hope that you will consider doing so also.