Motorcycle Ride for ROSSS 2024 coming soon!
Motorcycles, music, food and a silent auction will be the highlight of the day on June 15 in North Gower, Ont.
Lagois Design·Build·Renovate is hosting its annual Motorcycle Ride for ROSSS, and it’s already shaping up to be the best fundraising party for ROSSS so far.
ROSSS stands for Rural Ottawa South Support Services. It’s an organization providing affordable, quality health and social programs that support older adults, adults living with disabilities and their caregivers in rural communities south of Ottawa.
As an example of the value of fundraising for the organization, every $50 raised allows ROSSS to deliver a week’s worth of Meals on Wheels to a rural senior.
The motorcycle ride departs at 9 am on June 15
The motorcycle ride, which includes several members of the Lagois team, begins at 8 am with coffee and refreshments at the ROSSS office at 1096 Bridge Street, Manotick, Ont. with a 9 am departure. The route takes riders to the beautiful Long Sault Parkway that connects a collection of eleven islands on the St. Lawrence River, with poker run stops along the way. It finishes at around noon at the Lagois Design·Build·Renovate offices at 5921 Prince of Wales Drive in North Gower.
If you’re a motorcyclist, you can join the Ride by registering at www.rosss.ca (scroll down to ROSSS events). Riders pay $30 for themselves and $20 for an additional rider.
If you don’t ride a motorcycle, that’s okay
No worries if you don’t ride, however. The Lagois Design-Build-Renovate riders will do the riding for you. You can simply donate to ROSSS here.
By attending the party afterwards, or just dropping by for a barbecue lunch, (tickets here: look for “BBQ only”) you can contribute, too. Several local businesses, such as W.O Stinson and Son, are also sponsoring the event through cash donations and prizes.
Live music with Gabrielle Salmon
And it will be a fun gathering. Live music will be provided and donated by Gabrielle (Brie) Salmon, a talented young local musician.
Brie will be attending Queen’s University for Education with a Bachelor of Music in the fall. She has been playing guitar since she was 6 and was singing before she could talk.
Her original song, The Brighter Side, is available on all platforms (Spotify link here) and she is planning on releasing her second song in the near future.
Sassy, smokin’ barbecue lunch
Lunch will be provided by the amazing Roy’s Food Truck, Smokin’ R&Rs BBQ at reasonable cost. Proceeds from the lunch are also in support of ROSSS. Roy plans on serving brisket pulled pork and chicken sandwiches with fries and/or poutine — “with a sassy and spicy attitude at the window”.
Roy Barnes, a professional chef, started Smokin R&Rs BBQ in 2015. He uses a southern fried smoker, and he has developed the recipes (notably his own sauce) throughout 45 years. All barbecue products are gluten free. Containers are as biodegradable and environmentally friendly as possible “to lessen the impact of takeout food into the environment,” he says, “because we are constantly trying to lessen our carbon footprint.”
Smokin’ R&Rs has a permanent location in Stittsville (1441 Main Street) that is open from mid-April to the end of October, as well as its popular and recognizable mobile trucks.
All over the world, and North Gower, too
Miv Fournier, the well-known Ottawa photographer, will be on hand to take photographs of the event. Miv has done Lagois team member and project photos over the years, and this work will be entirely donated. His cameras take him all over the world.
Earlier, the wonderful Manotick Musicale, renamed this year The Show, held two performances in Greely, Ont. with The Manotick Brass and the Village Singers, as another fundraiser for ROSSS. (See story by Melissa McIsaac in the Manotick Messenger.)
Motorcycles, the community and public awareness
Herb Lagois, Founder of Lagois Design-Build-Renovate and an avid motorcyclist, was instrumental in creating the Ride. He’s an unabashed fan of ROSSS. He first heard of it when a lawyer friend asked him to join the board of directors.
“I thought, Rosss?” he laughs. “Who the heck is Rosss?”
But once he found out, he wanted to get involved. “And the more involved I got the more I learned about the huge role ROSSS plays in the community,” he says.
He kept running into people whose family members had benefited from the organization. “Everyone I talk to says something like, ‘Oh, they helped my parents; they were so good’.”
He sees the Ride as an opportunity for public awareness about ROSSS.
“I like the organization because it’s so local and specific. It’s rewarding to see what a big difference it makes in people’s lives.”
