What Is Monkey Across America?

My name is Jimmy "Beach," but my given name is Deitch. I am organizing an event for Tunnels to Towers, an organization that started after 9/11 to support our first responders and veterans.

Monkey Across America is a unique fundraising event. Honda Motorcycle makes a retro copy of the 1960s 50cc mini bike that my late older brother and I learned to ride as kids. The Monkey has now become a 125cc mini motorcycle, and I am riding it across the US with a small custom single-wheel trailer we designed and built to tow behind my Monkey. The trailer will hold my support gear for the long journey.

I plan to ride from Northern California through Denver, CO, and then off to Nashville, TN, where I hope to hold several events to raise funds for homeless veterans. I'll take a small break to rest my 63-year-old bones. The next stage will be riding to New York City's "Fox Square" to meet up with the founder of T2T, which was started on behalf of his brother, a fireman at the time of 9/11. He ran through the Brooklyn tunnel to the World Trade Centers with 90 pounds of gear on his back to help save lives, and he was one of the brave men and women who gave up their lives for others.

The journey is not yet complete. The ride home will be to help homeless veterans get off the streets and allow them to have a place they can call home. Many of us don’t understand what I call the homeless trap. This is where you may have a skill and want to work, but without a mailing address or a phone number, most employers will not consider you for a job. Frank is buying older hotels and fixing them up along with building tiny homes to give our vets a fighting chance to have a place to call home and a way to get a job and regain self-worth and dignity.

My father, a NAVY vet, grew up during the Great Depression, and his family was unable to take care of him and his sister, so they were sent to an orphanage. At the age of only 17, WWII came to America, and he joined two days later to serve his country. He never told me all the stories, but I knew he had seen a lot at a young age. He came home, was offered a job, and did well for himself and his family. Many of us have seen things and done things in life we would like to forget, but there it is.

With most of my family gone, I figured this ride was the best way to come home. Riding down the eastern seaboard, I will raise money for the foundation I believe in. It all goes to this great cause with T2T.org. The last weeks of the ride will be from New York to Tampa Bay, FL, but I will be coming home.