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BURNHAM -- Nearly six years ago, Tim Matthews lost his 23-year-old son, Kyle, to an opioid overdose. On Saturday, Matthews will get on a motorcycle and ride.
Saturday is Oct. 3, two days before the sixth anniversary of Kyle's death on Oct. 5, 2020. The ride will begin and end at Dream Center Mifflin County, where Matthews now serves on the board. The event's name explains much of why he will be there: Ride to Redemption.
Matthews' connection to the Dream Center began around 2022, when the organization was still taking shape. Chad Curry, who was helping lead the effort to start the Dream Center, had visited the radio stations where Matthews worked to talk about the organization's plans. When the group organized a benefit motorcycle ride, Matthews joined it.
Matthews rode a motorcycle, and he had lost a son to an opioid overdose. He had reason to listen.
"That's my story. That's how I came to be involved," Matthews said.
About a year and a half ago, Matthews was invited to join the Dream Center board. Last year, the group organized Ride to Redemption, its motorcycle fundraiser centered on addiction, recovery, and the families affected by both.
The timing is intentional. Matthews said Kyle's death is the reason he became involved and part of the reason the ride is held in or around the anniversary.
"It's the reason I'm in it," he said.
Matthews said the ride focuses on preventing opioid addiction where possible and helping people work through addiction and the trauma that comes with it. It also supports families carrying grief after an overdose death.
"It's tough to name a family that has not been touched in some way by this epidemic," Matthews said.
He has seen addiction cross economic, religious, and social lines. In his words, addiction is "no respecter of persons." For Matthews, those words aren't abstract. They carry Kyle's name and the memory of a loss he still measures in dates.
"I don't want to see anybody go through the pain that I have experienced in losing a child to this," he said. "Without question, it is the most awful thing that has ever happened to me."
Saturday's ride is open to anyone who wants to support the cause. Registration begins at 10:30 a.m. at the Dream Center, 204 First Ave., Burnham. Kickstands go up at noon.
The ride should last about two hours before returning to the Dream Center. Matthews has a route in mind but had not finalized it because he wanted to ride it first and make sure riders would have reasonable opportunities for stops.
Coffee, doughnuts, and hot chocolate will be available during registration. The cost is $20 per rider and $5 per passenger.
Matthews said last year's first Ride to Redemption didn't draw as many riders as he had hoped. He didn't have a participation total available, but expects the event to grow as more people learn about it.
The ride is not restricted to people in recovery or families affected by addiction.
"We want everybody that wants to ride out there," Matthews said.
People who don't own motorcycles can still support the Dream Center through donations. Contributions may be mailed to the Dream Center at 204 First Ave., Burnham, PA 17009, or made online at dreamcentermc.org using a debit card, credit card, Venmo, or PayPal.
The money raised will help cover Dream Center operating expenses and programs designed to help people move beyond addiction and rebuild their lives.
Matthews pointed to Restoration Pathway, which he described as a 12-step recovery journey. The center also plans life-skills workshops and computer classes using donated laptops. Budgeting instruction is another part of the programming being developed.
The goal, Matthews said, goes beyond helping someone stop using drugs. Someone coming out of addiction or jail may still encounter employers unwilling to take a chance on them. Transportation can stand between someone and a job. A lack of basic computer or money-management skills can create another barrier.
Those problems can become the next obstacles to recovery, and the Dream Center hopes to address them.
"Oftentimes, maybe people don't want to hire you, or maybe you don't have transportation to and from work," Matthews said.
The programs are intended to help people build stability after addiction, when stopping drug use may be only the beginning. Finding work, getting to that job and handling everyday responsibilities can help determine whether someone keeps moving forward.
For Matthews, that broader approach is part of what redemption means. It isn't limited to what happens during a recovery meeting. It includes helping someone deal with the circumstances that can make starting over more difficult.
The larger aim, Matthews said, is transformation.
"We want to see people transformed," he said, "getting out of addiction, dealing with the pain and trauma and things in life that took them there."
That brings Saturday's fundraiser back to the father who first showed up for a motorcycle ride to support a young organization. Matthews didn't begin as a board member. He came as a rider who had already learned what an opioid overdose could take from a family.
The Dream Center gave Matthews a place to put some of that experience to work. The ride gives others a way to join him, whether they have lived through addiction themselves, watched someone they love struggle with it or lost someone along the way.
For Matthews, the reason remains personal.
Nearly six years after Kyle's death, Matthews will return to the starting line. Other riders will gather outside the Dream Center before noon and head out for a couple of hours on roads Matthews has chosen.
The ride will end back where it started.
The reason Matthews rides will not.