Helping raise awareness for autism is personal for Shaun & Amanda Hampton

By Don Lowe

In just its second year and first as a tribute event, the Dale Osborne Memorial Ride 4 Autism Awareness that takes place late this month is a big deal on a personal level for Shaun and Amanda Hampton.

“We have two sons (14-year-old Lincoln and 12-year-old Urijah) that both have autism spectrum disorder (ASD),” relates Shaun Hampton, who also has a daughter (20-year-old Amiah). “We’ve watched our sons change people’s worlds when they’ve met them. Personally, we’ve watched their classrooms grow from two to four special-needs children to more than 10 over the years.

“While the school systems do their best to keep up, anything we can do to help is appreciated. We received our 501(c)3 this past June, which is starting to open more doors to what we can do in the future to help with autism awareness. We have some big goals to help raise awareness in the future.”

As for the upcoming ride, along with the Hamptons, Amanda’s mother, Patty Steffens, and Cory Osborne are among those who helped get this started.

“This is our first time to do a ride as a memorial,” Hampton says. “Cory’s father, Dale, passed away recently. Amanda and I felt it would be a great way to pay our respects and honor him. He (Dale) passed his love of riding motorcycles on to Cory.

“We wanted to thank Cory for all he does to help plan and organize this ride each year. He has really gone above and beyond to put these motorcycle rides together. He’s arranged a police escort and helped get sponsors, gotten cities involved, coordinated the food trucks and booked locations for us.”

Showing more appreciation and gratitude for additional support that’s been provided, Hampton says, “I’d also like to thank Scott Hudson and his staff at Cycle Connection.

“As our starting location, there’s a lot of planning and preparation that goes into that and the Cycle Connection has been great. Last year, we had about 150 motorcycles and things went great. This year, we’re anticipating 300-plus motorcycles.”

There’s entertainment to enjoy at this event and Hampton shares, “This year we have a band playing at the location where the ride ends (Happy Jacks Tavern). Nuke Bushner, who was on American Idol and is a Nashville star, is being presented by Divine Stoneworks, LLC, and Kubota of Joplin.”

When considering what makes this such an ideal event, Hampton suggests, “Awareness comes in all forms. Sometimes it’s 300 off-road machines riding together with their lights turned blue. Sometimes, it’s 300 motorcycles rumbling through a small town or down a highway.

“Sometimes it’s a conversation between a grandmother and me talking about the possibility of her grandson maybe being autistic and what steps they should think about next or what services might be available for him. Sometimes it’s an employer asking us how they go about hiring an autistic person. These are all about raising awareness. That’s why we Ride 4 Autism Awareness.”

There’s no doubt the Hamptons and everyone else involved in this worthwhile endeavor are ecstatic to be part of it and Hampton assures, “Personally, I’m thrilled to see all the people that support our vision and want to help us raise autism awareness.

“We have so many great businesses and individuals that support us and we couldn’t have the rides or make the donations without them. I’m most proud of all the hard work that we all put in to make these rides happen.”

Ride 4 Autism Awareness Fast Facts

When: Saturday, August 26, starting at 9 a.m.

Route: Starts at Cycle Connection in Joplin, Missouri. Goes through Galena and Baxter Springs, Kansas, and into Oklahoma. Ends at Happy Jacks Tavern in Seneca, Missouri.

Criteria: No specific rules and regulations other than state local and licensing laws.

Cost: The ride is free to participants

Fundraising: Shirts, other merchandise and raffle tickets are for sale.

Money Raised: Donations go to area schools for special-needs programs, which help with creating or maintaining sensory rooms and various items.

Music Sponsors: Divine Stoneworks, LLC and Kubota of Joplin

Silver Level Sponsors: Gear Head Auto Sales and Glenna Ledford Memorial Foundation

Sponsors: Rockstar Design/Cory Osborne/Cycle Connection/Cutting Loose Graphics/Happy Jacks Tavern/Jays Property Maintenance/The Waffle

Window LLC/Black Rain Energies/M&M Audio Inc./ Pitbull Powersports Route 66/Car Care Tint & Audio/ Riggs Chiropractic/Roper KIA/Epic Drives/Arvest Bank/Air Medics Heating & Air Conditioning/Fireplace

Creations/Bacon Me Krazy Food Trailer/X-Treme

Powersports/Landmark Enterprises LLC/Glo on the Go/Newton’s Jewelers/Ghetto Tacos/The Rental Store/ A2B Trailer Rental/MM Construction Services/Hired Gun Offroad/Rise Fitness

By the Numbers: 70 million individuals worldwide have autism. More than 7 million individuals in the United States are autistic, and half of children identified with an autism spectrum disorder have average or above-average intelligence. About 50% of individuals with autism wander from a safe environment and more than 50% go missing. Autism is the fastest-growing developmental disability in the United States. One in 27 boys are diagnosed with autism and 1 in 116 girls are diagnosed with autism. The average age of diagnosis of autism is 4 years old.