Motorcycle run will benefit KFC shooting victim

staff report

Tickets for the Joe Kaluza Benefit Motorcycle Run, sponsored by the Great Lakes Medieval Faire and Marketplace, can be purchased now at area KFC restaurants. The benefit run will take place Sunday at the Ice House Inn, 5516 West Webb Road, Austintown, and a portion of the ticket sales will benefit Kaluza and his family.

Kaluza, a former manager at a Youngstown-area KFC restaurant, was shot in the neck during a robbery March 24, 2008. The shooting left him paralyzed from the neck down. Kaluza is wheelchair-bound and is confined to just two rooms in his current home. Property has been purchased just down the street from where the family lives, but funds still need to be raised in order to build the new handicap-accessible home.

Those who would like to participate in the Joe Kaluza Benefit Motorcycle Run can purchase tickets at area KFC restaurants. Tickets cost $22 and include a day’s admittance to the Great Lakes Medieval Faire in Rock Creek, Ohio, and a roasted half-chicken dinner, normally a $29 value. A bike is not necessary to participate. About $10 to $12 from each ticket sold will go to Kaluza and his family to help build their new home.

Riders participating in the run will meet at the Ice House Inn. Sign-in will begin at 10 a.m., and the first bike will leave at noon. The run will end at the Great Lakes Medieval Faire and Marketplace located seven miles south of 1nterstate 90 on State Route 534 in Rock Creek.

For more information on the Great Lakes Medieval Faire, visit www.medievalfaire.com.