Motorcycle Demonstration – Commitment against Depression

Fellows Ride on course for growth: 26 motorcycle demonstrations for depression relief in 2024

The Fellows Ride initiative is planning motorcycle demonstrations for the fourth year in a row in 2024 to raise awareness of the widespread illness of depression. A total of 26 rides will take place at various locations, ten more than last year. This year, the focus is on “Mental health in the workplace”. The ride in Berlin will take place on August 28th, 2024 in cooperation with the neuhland – Hilfe in Krisen counseling center.

According to the RKI, depressive symptoms have been steadily increasing in the population in recent years. One in 12 Germans suffers from depression. Despite this, there is no lobby for mental health in politics, business or the general public. To raise awareness and make the issue heard, the Fellows Ride initiative organizes several motorcycle demonstrations every year. This year, they are planning a total of 26 rides, seven of which will take place in other European countries.”I am very pleased about the rapid growth of our initiative and the encouragement from the motorcycle community. This confirms how many people are affected by the topic of mental health and how great the need is to talk about it, educate people and raise awareness,” says initiator Dieter Schneider, assessing the developments.The starting signal will be given on May 11 in the parking lot of the Vogel Communications Group in Würzburg. Anyone can take part, whether on or alongside a motorcycle. At each ride, donations will be collected for regional health projects for Depressionshilfe and for a nationwide project.For the ride in Berlin, a portion of the donations will go to the neuhland – Hilfe in Krisen counseling center, which is a member of the Suicide Prevention Network Berlin.What does motorcycling have to do with depression? Initiator Dieter Schneider discovered the positive effect of motorcycling after his son committed suicide at the age of 23. On a tour lasting several months, he came to terms with the trauma and has since campaigned for depressed people to receive more attention and understanding, better prevention and, above all, good medical care.