Ride in Lennartz’s honor is Saturday

There’s an opportunity to ride along the Wabash River while supporting a good cause this weekend.

Billy’s Ride for Jay County Special Olympics, a 100-mile motorcycle event, will start at 11 a.m. Saturday in the Walmart parking lot at 950 W. Votaw St., Portland.

Registration for the ride, which is scheduled so riders will go by where William (Billy) Lennartz Jr. lived in Mercer County and along the river to Geneva and Bluffton and back to Portland, will run until 10:30 a.m. Saturday, said event organizer Mike Lennartz. RSVPs are online at bit.ly/3fsYyRr.

The event is in memory of Lennartz's Uncle Billy, a Coldwater, Ohio, resident who died in 1983. Half of the proceeds will go toward Jay County Special Olympics and the other half will be for Brenda Brown, an Indianapolis resident who is trying to buy a mobile chair for her son, Preston.

Preston, 37, is unable to move without assistance because of his severe form of autism. Lennartz said Preston reminded him of his uncle, who was also unable to move without assistance because of his severe form of down syndrome, which made him bed-ridden until his death at age 40.

“All they want to do is be part of the gang,” Lennartz said referring to those with mental and/or physical disabilities. He said he prefers to call them “perfect” rather than “special” because the latter alienates them.

Anything that can help those perfect people feel happy and live as much of a normal life as possible is worth it, Lennartz said. He added there’s a lack of resources available for those with disabilities after they are an adult because they don’t have the support system of going to school anymore.

Lennartz originally wanted to organize a poker run to make the event more interactive and have stops along the way but the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic complicated that effort.

Regardless of the pandemic, he said he hopes to make Billy’s Ride an annual event that raises money for one family that needs it every year.