Converse, Texas, Chapter 593 recently finished its 20th annual Rolling Run, which raises money for a variety of veteran and community causes.
For years, American Legion Riders Chapter 593 in Converse, Texas, was one of the top contributors to The American Legion Legacy Run, regularly donating more than $250,000 to The American Legion Legacy Scholarship Fund during the chapter’s first 10 years in existence.
That mission now has changed to fundraising for the Legion’s Veterans & Children Foundation (VCF), a cause Chapter 593 has readily accepted. And the chapter’s largest annual fundraiser for that cause just hit a major milestone,
On March 15, Chapter 593 conducted its 20th Rolling Run, which brings in Legion Riders from across Texas – and even from outside states – for a day that includes a 100-mile ride, silent and live auctions, a raffle, music and food.
This year, there were around 90 motorcycles and a total of 140 people who attended the event. This year, Riders from eight different Texas ALR chapters took part in the event, as well as a few individuals from Alabama.
Chapter 593 director Paul Goymerac said planning an event of Rolling Run’s size uses a core group of 11 Riders and monthly and weekly meetings. “We switch it off so they don’t get burned out,” he said of the volunteers. “This year we gave it to our safety officer (Josh Blevins), and he took it and ran with it.
“We have subcommittees that take care of the food, the tickets, the live auction and the silent auction. So, the volunteers were the ones who made this happen.”
Registration starts at 9 a.m. on the day of the event and includes a free breakfast. A safety briefing precedes the ride, which is 100 miles long and is broken into three groups that leave the post at 30-minute intervals in order to reduce the ride’s presence on the road.
Food, entertainment, auctions, door prizes and music await the Riders upon their return to the post. “The people just get along,” Goymerac said. “We know each other, so we’re outside just sitting there socializing. There’s great food. There’s lots to do. The whole place gets packed.”
Money raised during the event goes to multiple causes, including the VCF, support for local youth and to fund the chapter’s Vets Helping Vets program, which provides assistance to local veterans by building handicap-accessible ramps at the homes, installing flagpoles and fencing, and other projects.
Goymerac – a past post commander and district adjutant, and currently the chairman of the department’s Strategic Long Range Planning Committee – said the Vets Helping Vets typically has 15-20 different projects each year. “The police or fire department will call us and say, ‘We have a veteran whose fence keeps falling down. We keep giving them citations. Can you come out and help them out?’” he said. “We’ll go out and redo their entire fence at no cost, and we take out of our Vets Helping Vets program.”
Being able to provide that kind of assistance resonates with Goymerac. “I love it. Love it,” he said. “That’s one of the reasons I’m so actively involved with the Riders. Because what we do is our core mission, and that’s helping veterans.
“There isn’t one person I wouldn’t go to war with in that Riders group. Some are Auxiliary. Some are Sons (of The American Legion). And it’s not any one person. It’s all of us.”
- Riders