Bringing communities together to take action and create change to end gun violence.
ROCK THE RIDE USA is dedicated to offering an accessible way for people to learn, engage and feel empowered to make change in the fight to end gun violence at the local, state, and national levels. Whether cycling or walking, our events combine physical movement with mental engagement, our partners fair, and a safe environment to get involved in or recommit to ending gun violence in all its forms.
Rock the Ride USA is currently all-volunteer run and co-organized by our Co-Founder Rebecca Kotch, and The Pathway Home shooting survivor Liz Russell. We are proud to continue working with Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-04), who is the inspiration behind the original event. We also work with Alaina’s Voice Foundation, which serves as the nonprofit fiscal sponsor for our Rock the Ride events.
In Napa Valley, we have a dedicated advisory group as well as a cadre of volunteers — many of whom have supported our original event for the past seven years. Dr. Mark Shapiro, hospitalist and host of Explore the Space podcast, serves as our Voices of Change speakers panel moderator.
In North Shore, IL, we have amazing partners in Green Bay Cycles owners Pam & Larry Faulkner as well as the support of Rep. Brad Schneider (IL-10).
OUR TEAM
WHERE IT ALL STARTED
ROCK THE RIDE began on a 2018 Napa Valley bike ride with Congressman Mike Thompson (CA-04), then-Napa County Sheriff John Robertson (ret.), and Ride Napa Valley Event Producer Rebecca Kotch, when the Napa Valley community was still reeling from the March 9, 2018 shooting at The Pathway Home veterans program in Yountville. This came on the heels of the February 14, 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL which had rocked our nation. Bringing our community together to take action and demand change was our way of joining the fight and saying “ENOUGH”. That same year, our community would feel the weight of a mass shooting directly, yet again, when 18-year old Napa native and Pepperdine freshman, Alaina Housley, was killed at the Borderline Bar and Grill shooting in southern California. Alaina’s Voice Foundation, created by Alaina’s parents Arik & Hannah Housley, became a beneficiary of Rock the Ride Napa Valley in 2019, and inspired the Napa Valley 1839 FC ENOUGH cycling and soccer kits.
