HOUSTON – At Stubbs Harley Davidson, on Telephone Road, a motorcycle ride for charity roared to life.
The local charity, called the Bigass Crawfish Bash Foundation wanted to boost their donation to a camp that serves veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD.
The charity was headed to Camp Hope in Northwest Houston with a donation of nearly $100,000.
For a camp that runs on donations, these kinds of checks are a special delivery.
“It basically allows us to not charge anybody a dime for our services,” said David Maulsby, the executive director of Camp Hope.
Camp Hope allows veterans who suffer from PTSD to come with their families for six months and get treatment at no cost to the veterans.
“There are a few places we wind up, in jail, in a coffin or in the streets,” said Zack Alexander, a veteran who came back from Iraq with PTSD and substance-abuse problems. “They helped me to get sober. They helped to deal with the issues I had, that I didn't know I had. If it wasn't for Camp Hope, I wouldn't be here today.”
Members of the Bigass Charity Crawfish Bash Foundation were thrilled to present their donation to Camp Hope.
“They are the real heroes,” said Quentin Severin, a co-founder of the charity. “They have saved lives and saved families.”
The charity itself started with three guys who decided to have a cook-off crawfish boil for charity. It grew over three years.
“The first year we raised about $5,000. The second year we raised about $50,000 and this year our goal was to give away over $100,000,” said Daniel Guidry, another co-founder of the Bigass Crawfish Bash Foundation.
With the money they raised, the charity has given to education foundations, veterans and the disabled.
This year, the Bigass Crawfish Bash Foundation boiled more than 58,000 pounds of crawfish. Not only did they raise nearly $100,000 for Camp Hope, they also made it into the Guinness Book of World Records for the biggest crawfish boil.
The next crawfish bash will take place March 24, 2018, in La Marque at Gulf Grey Hound Park.
