The History of the EKIII Charitable Internet Community Outreach

or

How Eddie got his van. :-)

Here's my effort to preserve the wonderful one-of-a-kind community that started long ago in a place we called alt.motorcycles.harley.

We have grown, we have built a new bar, called the Virtual Bar & Grill, whose address is rec.motorcycles.harley, in Usenet, Planet Earth.

Eddie Kieger is one of us. Eddie Kieger is an Asshole®, Asshole®#13. #13 had a great fall, and all the Doctors, West Coast NetScum, RealScum, Co-workers and friends couldn't put Eddie back together again. Eddie traveled back to his home land to dwell near his mother, Ann. There was a handful of people who looked in on him, and a handful of people who brought him joy, but he was stuck in a home with nowhere to go....

One day an idea was born. A Chariot is what he needs, a mobility van!! What a grand idea, but oh-so expensive. So a call went out in the bar, and across that lands, "Eddie needs a van!".

The bustle began, the rustle of ideas hit the fan, auctions emerged (eBay had nuthin' on us!), money flowed in from around the globe. In explosive action, scurrying and hurrying, unmatched passion, 3 weeks brought us the desired transaction.... Eddie Gets His Van!!!!

And as all good story tales go, at the end, everyone lives happily ever after. Butt, this story does not end here, anymore than we are all fairytale characters living in a swamp....

[fast forward 7 years]

It is hard for us to remember life before the Chariot, what a complete and awesome blessing it has been. But much like Cinderella's chariot, things do no last forever. The Chariot lived a long fruitful life carrying Eddie and Ann to wonderful netscum gatherings, family reunions, holidays with family and friends. Eddie even got to go to the MeetInTheMiddle! But the goblins were busy terrorizing the van, playing pranks with the electricals, and driving everyone crazy. As the Chariot became riddled with goblin droppings and ruins and messes, the call once again went out "Eddie needs another Chariot!".

And again, people reached out, dug deep, auctioned the contents of their garages, designed patches, designed cookbooks, passed hats at events, auctioned contents of their closets (well, the "interesting" stuff, anyway), and 7 years to the date, Eddie got another Chariot. And there was much rejoicing in the lands.

As the story has not yet ended, and there are many other chapters, I will leave you with some of the earlier stories. But do not forget that you too can become party of the storyline, or to simply witness the stories as they are written. For more information, please visit Eddie's website can be found at http://eddiekieger.com.

Some historic threads surrounding the first van, fundraising efforts, etc.(compliments of dejanews.com (Google). However, there are many many more out there that delve into his rehab and different items that we covered by the monies raised. Some may think I am doing this to toot my own horn, but it is not my glory, I was simply put into place to help bring it all to be in the beginning. Many others greater than myself have fallen into step and the outreach we see now can not be attributed to anyone, anyone other than Eddie, AH#13, that is.