AT THE START … Josh Kolasinski rides his motorcycle and leads the way for the memorial ride. (PHOTOS BY JACOB KESSLER, STAFF) VIEW 530 PHOTOS OF THIS EVENT ONLINE FOR FREE AT WWW.THEVILLAGEREPORTER.COM.
By: Jacob Kessler
Keeping Our Girls Safe held their annual Sierah Joughin Memorial Ride on Sunday August 8th. Check in started at 9am with kickstands up at noon.
Riders were taken through the local villages of Metamora and Lyons before heading to the Fulton County Fairgrounds where riders received a meal.
Josh Kolasinski is the President of KOGS and explained that this is the organizations only fundraising event.
“We used to have other events like a glow runs and such, but I wanted something to be able to get more guys involved. I was like, as a male, a lot of the role generally is keeping your girls safe, so I figured let’s do something for the guys to get them to come out and help keep our girls safe,” said Josh.
All proceeds for the event go to pay for free self-defense classes for girls 16 and up. The instructors for the classes are Wauseon’s Assistant Police Chief John Roof and John Pinkstaff from the Sylvania Police Division.
The instructors are paid for their time which is what the donations and fundraisers help cover.
The organization has no specific place for their classes and instead goes where they are needed for each class. Each class typically has no more than around 20 people in it at a time.
This helps to ensure more knowledge is passed around from each of the instructors. Evergreen Schools has adopted the program and has it available for their high school girls.
Freshman, Sophomores and Juniors will each take the class once a year with seniors taking the class twice that year with each girl taking the course a total of 5 times in 4 years.
The classes last for around 2 hours with the first hour primarily being for talking and learning about the laws. The second hour is where the hands on portion comes in for managing an unknown contact. So far, KOGS has helped over 1,200 girls learn how to keep themselves safe.
Bikes were lined up from one end of the parking lot to the other with hundreds of people present. Booths were set up to buy items such as KOGS t-shirts, bandanas, 50/50 tickets and more.
As noon approached, riders stood and listened to the pre-ride meeting given by Josh Kolasinski and the ride coordinator Sue Lucas. Josh let everyone know that there were over 400 bikes for this year’s ride.
Josh thanked everyone for their support told them that they are able to continue to help keep girls safe because of them. He also promised that they are making a difference.
A prayer was said, and riders got on their bikes and headed off for the nearly 40-mile ride. Multiple police, and fire departments helped lead the way and block intersections to allow everyone to pass safely by without having to stop.
If you would like to learn more about KOGS, you can go to Kogsafe.com.
“Everything KOGS is able to accomplish, is done in the memory of Sierah (Ce).” -Kogsafe.com
Jacob can be reached at jacob@thevillagereporter.com
HUNDREDS OF BIKES … Hundreds of bikes and hundreds of people stand in the parking lot of the Evergreen Elementary school as they prepare for the memorial ride.
JOSH KOLASINSKI … President of Keeping Our Girls Safe, Josh Kolasinski, stands in front of motorcycles lining up to be in the memorial ride.