As many of you may know, one of our members was badly injured at PIR on Thursday, August 20th. Dave Schelske was an on-track photographer for the night when a rider (unknown at the time of writing this) lost control and hit Dave from behind, shattering his right hip and breaking his right shoulder.

You can imagine how astronomical the medical bills for this will be for Dave. Additionally, as a freelance photographer, his source of income will be significantly hampered. In addition to any other help that I am able to offer, I am pledging $100 to Dave and his family and I challenge every NWDR member and reader of this post to pledge any amount that they can.

I understand that not everyone will be able to contribute this much, but some will and some may be able to contribute more. Pledge whatever you can. $100 is what we are able to pledge.

Please contact me (Echo) at echo@nwdirtriders.com with the amount that you are willing to pledge to Dave. I will handle collecting all the money and getting it to Dave. If you'd like to mail me a check, please email me and I will give you my mailing address. I can take cash or check in person if you live in the Portland, OR area. I can also accept PayPal: kennycarlile _AT_ gmail _DOT_ com

Fund-raiser Raffle info here: http://www.nwdirtriders.com/helpdave

ThumperTalk thread: http://www.thumpertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=816742

OMRA thread: http://www.omraoffroad.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=39009

This is one of the last pictures Dave took before being struck by the rider. While his camera was destroyed, the memory card survived and he was able to salvage some of the images. (Click for a larger version.)

I challenge you to pledge whatever you can to help Dave.