A Fort McMurray couple have kickstarted a campaign to motorcycle across Canada – all in the name of mental health.
David and Rochelle Hynes are hopping on their bike this month so they can ride coast to coast and help raise awareness and funds for the Canadian Mental Health Association.
The pair will trek from Fort McMurray to British Columbia on June 23 and from there, head out east to New Brunswick and Newfoundland – before heading back to Fort McMurray for July 12.
As they prepare to embark, Rochelle tells Mix News they’ve received a lot of support from the community.
“I’ve had struggles in my life, and so has David and we have looked at some of these stories we’ve here on our Facebook page and we can relate. It helps us and hopefully it helps others to cope as well.”
Every donation will help further advance mental health programs and encourage those struggling to seek help if they need it.
David says the ride was an idea that combined their love of motorcycles and giving back to those who need it.
“Kind of popped in our head one day when we created the Facebook page and we love riding motorcycles – that’s one of our passions. It just became kind of natural to turn it into an all-out ride.”
David feels there will always be support for those dealing with mental health issues.
“To take your life, I can’t even imagine the thought process that goes through someone’s head but there is help out there. And this is the thing we really want to get across – everybody has their own issues, and everybody struggles sometimes but there are people out here that want to help.”
Donations can be made to the couple’s cause on their GoFundMe page ‘A Ride Down AddyLayne.’
So far, the pair have raised around $1400 of their $50,000 goal.