A reasonable person could look at Peace*Love*Happiness and ask a fair question: what does housing have to do with fallen officers?

Here’s the answer. A first responder’s family doesn’t stop being vulnerable when the funeral ends. Kids age out. Widows get behind on utilities. The nineteen-year-old sleeping in a car might be a firefighter’s kid.

The needs we fund — housing, food, childcare, utilities, transportation, medical and mental health care — are the same six needs that show up in a first responder’s household after the worst day of their life.

Twenty-five years of the same instinct

PLH started in 2002 because two riders heard an Austin police officer being criticized for risking his life to save someone else’s, and decided that wasn’t right. Every cause we’ve taken on since has come from that same instinct: show up for people the system was supposed to protect and didn’t.

That’s how a charity motorcycle ride came to support veterans. Women and children in crisis. The Native American community. The disability community. The physical and mental health of active first responders. And now young adults working their way toward stable housing.

None of those replaced the ones before them. We still ride for The 100 Club of Central Texas every single year.

Why housing became the newest focus

What that means for our donors

If you have given to PLH because you support first responders, nothing about that has changed. Your dollars still go to the families of officers, firefighters, and EMTs killed or critically injured in the line of duty.

And if you have given because you care about young adults with nowhere to sleep, you are supporting the same organization that has been standing up for first responders since 2002.

Same heart. Ever-growing mission. Twenty-five years in, we’re still following the need down the same road.

For more than 23 years, TEAM PLH Mountain Bike has proudly served our communities both on and off the bike.

Our mission has always been bigger than racing — it’s about making a difference through volunteerism, leadership, and giving back.

In each of those places, our riders compete, volunteer, and build relationships that help grow support for the PeaceLoveHappiness Charity. Everywhere our team rides, we share the PLH mission, inspire others to get involved, and demonstrate that every mile can make a positive impact.

We are grateful for every rider, volunteer, sponsor, and supporter who has helped us carry this mission forward for more than two decades — and we’re just getting started.photograph would probably outperform anything on this page.

Peace*Love*Happiness was born out of an argument about a police officer. Twenty-four years later, supporting first responders and their families is still at the center of everything we do.

How it started

In 2002, two bikers were riding through the Texas Hill Country. During a pit stop at Poodie’s Hill Top, John Paul DeJoria and Gary Spellman heard how harshly an Austin police officer was being criticized for risking his own life to save someone else’s. They decided that wasn’t right, and they decided to do something about it.

That day, Peace*Love*Happiness was born — and the charity motorcycle ride that grew out of it has been supporting first responders and their families ever since.

Who The 100 Club is

The 100 Club of Central Texas was founded in 1983, originally to support the Austin Police Department. Today it serves law enforcement officers, firefighters, EMTs, emergency communications operators, and corrections officers across seven counties — Bastrop, Bell, Caldwell, Hays, Milam, Travis, and Williamson.

When a first responder is killed or critically injured in the line of duty, The Club steps in immediately with financial and emotional support for the family. That first check is meant to take care of pressing needs so a family can grieve on their own timeline instead of under financial pressure. And The Club doesn’t stop there — they stay in touch for years afterward with calls, cards, and an annual family gathering.

Why we ride for them

Our first responders answer the call on the worst day of someone else’s life. The 100 Club exists to make sure that when the worst day is theirs, there is a community ready to answer back. That is the same instinct that put two riders on the road in 2002, and it is why PLH riders keep showing up.

Every year, motor officers from across Central Texas escort our riders — fifteen or more of them at a time. It is one of the best parts of the weekend, and a reminder of exactly who we are riding for.

Look through this website and you will notice something missing. You will not find a photograph of a young adult standing outside a shelter. You will not find a first responder’s widow telling her story to a camera. That is not an oversight. It is a decision we made on purpose, and we intend to keep it.

Dignity is not a marketing strategy

Charities raise more money when they show you a face. That is simply true, and every nonprofit knows it. A photograph of someone at their lowest moment moves people to give in a way that a statistic never will.

But the person in that photograph pays for it. They pay in privacy. They pay when a future employer runs a search on their name. They pay when a classmate or a coworker recognizes them. They pay in the quiet knowledge that the help they received came with a camera attached.

We are not willing to charge people that price for their own assistance. Someone asking for help with rent or groceries or a doctor’s visit is already having a hard enough week. They should not also have to become our fundraising material.

What We Do Instead

It costs us something

We will be honest about the tradeoff. This approach almost certainly leaves money on the table. A stranger’s photograph would probably outperform anything on this page.

We think that is the right trade. An organization that was founded because someone was being treated unfairly should not build its fundraising on treating people as material. If you give to Peace*Love*Happiness, you are trusting us with the numbers instead of the faces — and we take that seriously enough to publish what we raise and where it goes.

Twenty-four years in, that is still the deal.

Gary interviews JP about his journey of motorcycle riding at Cowboy Harley Davidson…