Chuck Furey, a 62-year-old retired pharmaceutical sales representative from Mansfield, Massachusetts, is about to embark on the final leg of a 14,000 mile, charity motorcycle ride around the U.S. after a brief stop on Vashon last weekend.
On April 15, 2013, Furey, — longtime friend of islander Jeff Hoyt — his wife, his daughter and her fiancé were on the patio of Boston’s Forum restaurant with friends to watch the world’s oldest annual marathon. About 10 feet away from Furey’s daughter, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev also stood watching until the first bomb went off, when he walked away leaving the second bomb in his place.
“When we heard the first one go off, I remember saying to someone, ‘That’s not a good sound. Something bad has just happened,’” Furey said, recounting his experience at the scene. “Fourteen seconds later, the second one went off right in front of us.”
After the smoke cleared from the explosion, Furey, who had only arrived at the restaurant about a minute and a half before the first bomb went off, immediately went to look for his family. Both his wife and his daughter had been thrown from the patio into the restaurant by the blast, but fortunately, none of them had sustained serious injuries.
Furey recalled in vivid detail the horror of those who had not been as lucky.
“After I knew that my family was OK, I began to try to help. … So many people that had been right there with us lost legs,” he said, adding that he remembered taking his own belt off to use as a tourniquet on one victim who’d lost his leg. “And one man was on fire. I tried to put it out with a beer. Even the cops were in shock. They were just staring at everybody at first, like they didn’t believe their eyes.”
When the dust finally settled, Furey began what he called a “year of reflection” on the events of that day and the outpouring of support and donations that Boston received from all over the country.
“It was amazing,” he said of the global response to his wounded city.
During that time, Furey thought long and hard about doing something positive to give back and help himself move forward and past the trauma of what he and his family had experienced.
When he watched his daughter and her fiancé determinedly train for and then complete the marathon just one year later, an idea began to take shape.
“I am not a runner, so I knew I couldn’t do what they did,” he said. “But I thought maybe I could combine something I loved doing with fundraising.”
An avid motorcyclist, Furey had long been contemplating the Southen California Motorcycle Association’s (SCMA) Four Corners Ride, which sends riders to the four corners of the continental U.S., as something he might do upon retirement. The SCMA’s rules however, require that the ride be completed in 21 days or less, and Furey was looking for a less stringent itinerary.
So, creating his own four corner plan, Furey came up with the ONE (which stands for : One person making a difference, National web of giving, Every dollar helping families) Ride, in which he would ride his motorcycle 14,000 miles around the U.S., and raise money for five different charities, located in five different areas of the country, in an effort to recreate the national spirit of philanthropy he witnessed after the bombing.
The first charity he chose was an easy one for Furey. The Joe Andruzzi Foundation, named after its founder, cancer survivor and former NFL offensive guard Joe Andruzzi, who is also a good friend of the Fureys. The foundation raises money for families of cancer patients. It was an Andruzzi Foundation VIP marathon-watching party that had the Fureys on the Forum restaurant patio that fateful day.
The other charities that Furey is riding for are the American Indian Cancer Foundation in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the B.A.S.E. Camp Children’s Cancer Foundation in Winter Park, Florida, the Green Beret Foundation in San Antonio, Texas, and Gilda’s Club of Seattle. Gilda’s Club is named in honor of the late comedian Gilda Radner, and its mission is to offer social, emotional and educational support to anyone living with cancer, their families and friends.
By the time Furey arrived on Vashon last Friday evening, he had made it to three of the ride’s four corners (Madawaska, Maine; Key West, Florida; and San Ysidro, California), ridden over 10,000 miles and raised over $43,000 along the way.
Of his 200 to 300 miles of daily riding, Furey said that he’d love to go back and see everything again.
“If you haven’t seen this country by car or motorcycle. … Seeing the landscapes, the vastness and variety, it’s made me even more interested in what I haven’t seen yet,” he said, almost at a loss for words describing his adventure.
After a weekend on the island with Hoyt and his wife, whom he hadn’t seen in over 20 years, Furey was off to his last corner in Blaine, Washington, before heading home across the northern U.S., with a special fundraising stop at the annual Sturgis motorcycle rally in South Dakota along the way.
“All of these foundations help families in crisis. They need to be supported; they do good work,” Furey said. “This experience has been everything I thought it would be and more.”
