Relief
Hog Fest
Howard County
Community Resilience: Uplifting Low-Income Families Through Targeted Relief
By Brian M. Brooks, M.P.H. · March 12, 2026
On a cool Saturday morning outside the clubhouse at 2550 N Washington Street, the parking lot filled the way it always does before a charity ride: kickstands down, coffee cups in gloved hands, and a stack of sponsor shirts folded on a folding table. Someone had already taped a handmade sign to the porch rail — Hog Run / Hog Fest 2026, benefiting Emery and family crisis relief across Howard County. Nobody needed a keynote speech. In Kokomo, people know what a medical folder looks like when it gets too thick for the kitchen counter.
HOGRUNNERS CHARITY RIDERS was founded for mornings like this. Since the IRS recognized the organization as a 501(c)(3) public charity in May 2015, our work has stayed stubbornly local. We raise what we can through motorcycle charity rides partnered with Hog Runners MC, then move that money into grocery cards, utility assistance, and short-term grants for households that would otherwise choose between fuel and food. Our Facebook community — roughly 1.7K followers — and Instagram @hogrunnersmc carry the same message the engines do: when a neighbor is down, the club rolls.
Targeted relief is not a slogan for us; it is a process. Families reach us through riders, churches, clinics, or the intake form on hogrunnersridersnfp.org. Program volunteers confirm Howard County residency, ask what bills are actually due this month, and match help to the gap — not to a press release. In 2022, rides and fundraisers stood with Alana and Jonathon during cancer treatment. In 2026, Flash Pass sales and $100 shirt sponsors are stacking again so Emery’s family and other households in crisis can breathe. Eighty-eight percent of every donated dollar is earmarked for direct programs; administration and fundraising stay lean on purpose.
What resilience looks like, after the last bike leaves the lot, is quieter. It is a Tuesday meal drop on a side street off Washington. It is a Treasurer double-checking that a grocery card was purchased from a local merchant instead of a distant middleman. It is Principal Officer Cole Acord answering admin@hogrunnersriders.org when a donor wants the EIN — 47-3980596 — before they write a check. Resilience is also the mother who texts a thank-you without being asked to stand on a stage. We keep names private unless a family chooses otherwise, because dignity is part of the relief.
If you want to strengthen that circle, buy a Flash Pass, sponsor a shirt, or volunteer at the next packing day. Community resilience in Howard County has always sounded like a Harley at idle — waiting for the signal that someone needs a hand — and then the roar of neighbors who refuse to look away.
Mentorship
Education
Youth
Education First: Breaking the Cycle of Poverty Through Mentorship
By Tyler G. Hayes, M.P.A. · February 4, 2026
Poverty in a mid-sized Indiana city rarely looks like a movie set. It looks like a teenager who stops answering texts about college nights because the family car needs new tires, or a parent who skips their own dinner so the kids can finish homework with a full stomach. HOGRUNNERS CHARITY RIDERS treats those moments as educational emergencies as much as financial ones. Our Youth & Senior Care Outreach and Career & Skills Workshops grew from the same clubhouse porch where charity rides begin — because riders noticed that a one-time grocery card helps for a week, while a mentor who returns every Saturday can change a decade.
Mentorship here is deliberately ordinary. After scheduled club rides, volunteers stay for resume labs, digital literacy tutorials, and outdoor mentoring sessions when the weather cooperates. Guardians sign consent forms for youth ages 12–18. Mentors complete a simple background check and conflict-of-interest acknowledgment kept with our corporate records. We do not promise scholarships we cannot fund; we promise presence — an adult who remembers a student’s name, helps fill out a job application without judgment, and models the same integrity we demand of our Form 990-N filings.
Education First also means teaching adults who lost work how to navigate online applications that assume broadband and a quiet desk. Second Saturday workshops at the clubhouse draw neighbors who may never own a motorcycle but trust the Hog Runners MC reputation that fills Facebook feeds with ride photos and event nights. Instagram stories from @hogrunnersmc sometimes show the quieter aftermath: tables covered in printed resumes, a senior mentor explaining how to answer “tell me about a challenge,” a young person leaving with a printed list of Kokomo employers who have hired workshop graduates before.
Breaking cycles is slow work. We measure it in completed applications, returned Saturday attendance, and the rare email that says someone got the interview. We also measure it in board minutes — Program Director Brian Brooks reporting intake numbers, Secretary Tyler Hayes archiving mentor agreements, Treasurer Olivia Richardson confirming that workshop snacks and printer toner were coded correctly under program expense, not fundraising fluff. Since May 2015, that paperwork discipline has let us stay a public charity people can verify instead of a Facebook page that only posts inspiration.
If mentorship is the long game of charity riding, then donors who underwrite Flash Pass 2026 and shirt sponsors at $100 are buying time — hours mentors can give without asking a family for gas money. Visit services.html to see schedules, or write admin@hogrunnersriders.org if you want to mentor. The cycle of poverty does not break with slogans. It loosens when a Howard County kid learns that someone with grease under their nails believes they can finish the next form.
Transparency
Impact Report
Donors
Annual Impact Report: 100% Transparency and Dedicated Donor Service
By Olivia K. Richardson, CPA, CGMA · January 18, 2026
Donors who write checks to motorcycle clubs sometimes worry the money will vanish into fuel and parties. HOGRUNNERS CHARITY RIDERS exists so that worry has an answer with an EIN on it. We are a registered 501(c)(3) public charity — EIN 47-3980596 — mailing to PO Box 6842, Kokomo, IN 46904, with Principal Officer Cole Acord responsible for IRS correspondence. This annual impact summary is our way of saying thank you without hiding the math.
In the most recent operating year, approximately 88% of expenditures supported direct programs: family crisis grants, meal outreach, mentoring supplies, and ride-day costs that put relief in beneficiaries’ hands. About 8% covered necessary administration — bookkeeping tools, postage for receipts, and the unglamorous work of keeping Indiana nonprofit filings current. Roughly 4% supported fundraising, including printing for Hog Fest and Flash Pass materials. Those ratios are targets we defend in board meetings, not marketing wallpaper. When a shirt sponsor sends $100, they should see that contribution appear in program ledgers, not vanish into unexplained “brand awareness.”
Transparency also means explaining what we cannot yet do. Gross receipts historically place us in Form 990-N (e-Postcard) territory. That does not make our stewardship casual; it makes our filings shorter. Anyone may email admin@hogrunnersriders.org for confirmation of the latest 990-N submission, a copy of our conflict-of-interest policy summary, or a receipt for a tax-deductible gift. We never sell or rent donor lists. Dedicated donor service looks like answering questions about matching gifts from employers, clarifying that contributions are deductible to the extent allowed by law, and directing ride participants to the correct legal name — HOGRUNNERS CHARITY RIDERS INC — when their payroll department asks.
Impact is not only percentages. It is the cumulative miles ridden since 2015, the volunteer hours logged after Instagram posts call people to the clubhouse, and the quiet continuity from Alana and Jonathon’s 2022 medical fundraiser to Emery’s 2026 benefit. Partner logos on our site — Hog Runners MC, local food banks, first responders — represent relationships that keep relief grounded in Howard County rather than abstract national campaigns. Candid-style transparency goals for 2026 push us to publish clearer program counts and faster receipt turnaround after Hog Fest weekends.
If you are reviewing this page for Google Ad Grants, corporate matching, or simply before you buy a Flash Pass, welcome. Read our privacy policy, meet the four-role board, and ask hard questions. One hundred percent transparency is not a finish line; it is the habit of leaving the books where neighbors can see them — right beside the kickstands on Washington Street.
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