MOOSEHEART, IL - Sometimes the best way to fully understand an event's meaning is by looking in the rearview mirror.

The numbers associated with Mooseheart's Blessing of the Bikes get larger every year. But the sense of the event is in how it is felt by those attending. And this is how Scott Kline, from Franklin, PA Lodge 83 put his experiences from the May 17 event.

Kline, the vice-president of his local Moose Riders unit, attended the fifth annual event with fellow Pennsylvanian Jan Rodgers, a member of Franklin, PA Women of the Moose Chapter 669. Kline said afterward:

"I can honestly say we came home different members from when we left," Kline said. "Getting to spend a few hours with the kids at their house was, hands-down, the highlight of our trip.

"One thing you could have warned me about though: it's hard to ride teary-eyed," he said.

"We made a lot of new friends that I think will become lifelong. Moose Riders need to either visit Mooseheart or have their Lodges invite one of the houses to come for a visit. Sit down and talk to these kids and it truly will enlighten you to our purpose as people, as a Moose member, and as a Moose Rider."

Moose and motorcycles, helping support the fraternity's twin pillars of Mooseheart and Moosehaven, have become more than a match made in heaven. And the annual Blessing of the Bikes, a wish for a safe riding season, has become a fixture on the Mooseheart calendar. Moose Riders are more than willing to travel long distances and put up with some pretty poor weather to attend the event.

Joan Fedora, Maclenny, FL Lodge 2412. Came north with a half-dozen Floridians. She rode in a support truck to ensure the riders arrived at the destination safely.

"The point of this was to ride from Moosehaven, which is very close to our Lodge and close to our hearts, to Mooseheart," Fedora said.

Along the way, the Florida riders had their wills tested by rain that accompanied them for the final two-thirds of the ride.

"By the time we got to Nashville, it started really raining," Fedora said. "That's when they couldn't pull over and they couldn't stop. It rained the whole state of Indiana and they were soaked to the bone."

The May 17 weather at Mooseheart, in contrast, was positively sun-kissed, which helped swell the numbers to 172 registered motorcycles and 244 attendees. Those numbers are an improvement from the 2007 totals of 160 bikes and 215 attendees. In five years, the Mooseheart Blessing of the Bikes has done nothing but grow larger.

The event involved the morning gathering and the ceremonial blessing for a safe riding season from Mooseheart's Chaplain, Rev. Tom Riemenschneider. The assembled riders then rode to Mt. Morris, IL Lodge 1551, where they ate lunch. The riders returned to St. Charles, IL Lodge 1368 for dinner, raffles, music and other events, including the presentation of laptop computers to Mooseheart's Class of 2008 graduating seniors who entered an essay competition.

Among money raised at the Blessing of the Bikes was nearly $2,000 in the ongoing raffle to win the Bull Moose Chopper, a motorcycle built by four women specifically for the Moose fraternity. Additional funds nearing $4,000 were to be split between the twin charities of Mooseheart and St. Jude Children's Cancer Research Hospital.

"St. Jude is a great charity as well," said second-year Bike Blessing organizer, Chris Ecker, who serves Moose International as Assistant Director of Fraternal Programs. "It has its roots in our fraternity." St. Jude's founder, the late entertainer Danny Thomas, was a very active Moose member (Indianapolis Lodge 17) and served as a talent liaison helping book big-name entertainment for International Moose Conventions in the 1960s.

So, noted Ecker, "the Bike Blessing is a wonderful opportunity for Moose members to help healthy children as well as aid those whose health is a matter of urgency."

Some who attended the Blessing of the Bikes, like Fedora and the other Florida Moose Riders, got a chance to see the Mooseheart campus for the very first time.

"It's beautiful," Fedora said. "It's going to tug at my heartstrings a little. You go from people at Moosehaven to the children at Mooseheart. That's what we are as Moose -- we are where life starts, where it ends and everything in between."

Not only did Rodgers and Kline travel from Pennsylvania, they had a passenger: a Tommy Moose plush toy -- complete with riding goggles!

"I feel Moose Riders is a great fundraising opportunity for the fraternity," Kline said. "Our Lodge is very supportive of what we're trying to do as Moose Riders."

The pair compiled a Tommy Moose travel log for the folks back home, and this particular Tommy is to be the grand prize of an upcoming raffle.

"This is awesome," Rodgers said. "We got to meet some of the children already and we're hoping to meet a few more of them."

Rodgers and Kline also brought cards for two Mooseheart children, Meagan and Cody Henderson. The Henderson children are sponsored by Oil City, PA Lodge 78, in close proximity to the Franklin Moose.

Rodgers said the combination of Moose and motorcycling is a natural thing given their love of the fraternity and of riding motorcycles. "There's no other way to do it," Rodgers said.

Gene and Donna Ashbaugh rode all the way west from Lindenwold, NJ Lodge 548 and Chapter 440 and also encountered rain on their way to Mooseheart. Though they have been to the Child City campus before, the Blessing of the Bikes allowed them an opportunity to share their love of motorcycles with their fellow Moose Riders. They also took full opportunity to seat some of Mooseheart's children on their Goldwing trike.

Lodge 548's Moose Rider chapter is less than one year old, but is growing.

"It means a lot to us," Gene Ashbaugh said. "This is our third trip to the Child City, and we love coming here to Mooseheart."

The word about the Blessing of the Bikes has spread through Illinois' Moose Riders as well. Denny Roach, from McHenry, lived at Mooseheart for six years in the 1950s as a child, and has since returned several times. This year was the first time he participated in the Blessing of the Bikes.

"I enjoy seeing the kids," Roach said. "Motorcycles were not allowed in Mooseheart when I was here. I've ridden them all my adult life."

May Events at Mooseheart

• May 21: Mooseheart Honors and awards Program, at Fieldhouse, 2 p.m.
• May 23: Mooseheart Fifth-Grade Promotion, at Fieldhouse, 2 p.m.
• May 24: Mooseheart High School Graduation, at Fieldhouse, 9 a.m., followed by Pilgrim Day ceremony at House of God. Ceremony begins at noon.

Mooseheart Child City & School is a 1,000-acre community and school for children and teens in need of a secure home, located just south of Batavia, IL, between Illinois Route 31 and Randall Road.

Founded in 1913, Mooseheart is supported completely through private donations - the great majority of which come from the 1.1 million men and women of the Moose fraternal organization, in more than 1,900 Lodges and 1,600 Chapters located throughout the U.S., Canada, Great Britain and Bermuda. Moose International headquarters is located on the Mooseheart campus.

Since its founding, Mooseheart has operated a complete, accredited kindergarten-through-high-school academic program, plus art, music, vocational training and interscholastic sports. It is an extremely nurturing and student-tailored program, with an average student-teacher ratio of 12-1.

Mooseheart students who complete their studies with a 3.0 GPA or better (4.0=A) are eligible for up to five years of annually renewable scholarship funding, covering tuition, room and board in an amount comparable to that required for an in-state student at an Illinois public university.

Mooseheart is currently home to nearly 250 students, ranging in age from preschoolers to high school seniors. Applications for admission to Mooseheart are considered from any family whose children are, for whatever reason, lacking a stable home environment. Mooseheart boasts its own U.S. Post Office and a fully functioning branch of Fifth Third Bank.

In addition to Mooseheart, Moose International also supports Moosehaven, a 70-acre retirement community near Jacksonville, FL founded in 1922; and conducts more than $90 million worth of community service programs annually.

Founded in 1888, the Moose organization has long offered its members an opportunity to do good for others while celebrating life, with family, social, and sporting activities. For more information on the Moose organization, visit the websites at www.Mooseintl.org and www.Mooseheart.org or call 630-966-2229. .