February 21, 2022 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Veterans Invited to Join the Call to Customize A Motorcycle! The Helping with Horsepower Bike Rebuild Program is launching February 27, 2022, for Veterans! Mitchell, SD - Helping with Horsepower at Reclamation-Ranch launched the Heroes Helping with Horsepower Veterans Program in 2019 to connect our service men and women with the transformative and healing power of horses. To further engage and thank our Veterans, Helping with Horsepower is reclaiming their original and copyrighted Bike Rebuild Program to give Veterans an opportunity to come together with purpose, and join the call to customize a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. The program is free to join and no experience is necessary as goals for success include providing a therapeutic motorcycle work space, camaraderie, focus, and a new sense of purpose. A team of varied levels of experience is assembled to provide our Veterans with equipment, guidance, hands-on experience, and a welcoming atmosphere where they can connect with other Veterans all while working together to customize the project motorcycle. The Program includes an option to mentor individuals with special needs so they can share what they are learning if they choose.
“I am so excited to reclaim our Bike Rebuild program and offer the opportunity to our Veterans! I have experienced firsthand how motorcycles can teach us not only about ourselves, but also powerful life lessons, and I can’t wait to get my hands dirty alongside those who have sacrificed to protect our freedom to even be able to do this,” states Laura Klock, Founder and President of Helping with Horsepower, and creator of the Helping with Horsepower Bike Rebuild program that has touched lives deeply in our area, as well as in centers for youth across the US over the years. “Our program provides the perfect environment for Veterans to engage in team building, self confidence building, and enjoy the satisfaction of accomplishing something amazing they may have never tried without our program.”
"We are excited to offer another Helping with Horsepower program to Veterans at Reclamation-Ranch! We are creating another opportunity for Veterans to meet, work together and design something beautiful and functional with special needs individuals and other military men and women. Our goal for participants in the bike rebuild program is to help military men and women understand and feel that there are others willing to walk beside and encourage them through the challenges they may be facing.” Crystal Young, Owner of Reclamation-Ranch and Executive Director of Helping with Horsepower shares.
The Helping With Horsepower Bike Rebuild Program is holding its launch event at Reclamation-Ranch on February 27th at 2:00 pm. At the launch, participants will meet the project motorcycle, a 2000 Harley-Davidson FXDS, and hear its story, meet each other, and learn all about the customization process! By design the program seeks a paint partner, a shop partner and leads that will assist. Industry leaders that are dedicated to the project’s mission include Todd Dozart, local painter; Chris Degen, MTI PowerSports program director; Dave Dunn is the partial bike donor and has personal history with this motorcycle; and Veteran Collin Newton, Parkston Precision Machining. There are many others that have already stepped forward to help assure success. These programs do not happen without a team and many individuals share their talents and treasures as we all work together to reach our goal of customizing an amazing motorcycle.
The finished motorcycle will be raffled, with proceeds benefiting Heroes Helping with Horsepower Veterans programs at Reclamation-Ranch. There is a marketing segment in our curriculum where participants can learn strategies and help identify events for ticket sales and the best way to interact with the public regarding this project. “We are developing more opportunities for Veterans, and expanding our current arena to house community events and more rebuild programs,” shared Crystal Young. “Ticket sale proceeds will help us reach these goals. We are excited to do even more to support our military men and women.” For more information: Laura Klock, 605-999-9824, laura@helpingwithhorsepower.com Crystal Young, 605-770-2867, reclamationranch@gmail.com www.helpingwithhorsepower.com
Helping with Horsepower at Reclamation Ranch is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded in 2010. Our overall Mission is to “design programs that empower and encourage and raise funds for worthy charities”, with our individual program missions being more specific. While the HWH Bike Rebuild Program was our foundation, in 2014 HWH partnered with Crystal Young and her Reclamation-Ranch to establish the Therapeutic Riding program that has been at the forefront of efforts and growth for many years. Through the Helping with Horsepower Therapeutic Riding Program “we assist those with special needs with achieving their goals through interactions with horses.” In 2019 Crystal Young, Executive Director of Helping with Horsepower, wrote and launched the Heroes Helping with Horsepower program, with focus on equine assisted healthcare specifically for Veterans and trauma survivors.
Helping with Horsepower Bike Rebuild Program began in 2011 by President and Founder of HWH, Laura Klock, who wrote a curriculum because of her desire to share motorcycles as an effective tool to teach life lessons to youth ages 7-17 in residential treatment. The Abbott House in Mitchell, South Dakota, was the first location, and the program was so successful that 5 projects, which completed 6 custom motorcycles hands-on in the classroom with youth in care, had a significant financial impact (nearly $600,000) for the Abbott House, and produced measurable results in personal growth and reduced critical incidents while the girls were participating. Inquiries came in so Laura taught and licensed the curriculum to other centers. At its peak, there were as many as eight Helping with Horsepower Bike Rebuild Programs being facilitated at residential treatment centers across the US, even one on Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, and the Omaha Home for Boys in Nebraska.
