(Fountain—July 20, 2012)  A local motorcycle club is inviting riders from across the Pikes Peak region to rally Saturday and raise funds to help Colorado’s needy veterans and military families.

The Rough Riders’ third annual “Poker Run” will start and end in Fountain, with all funds benefiting a Colorado Springs-based nonprofit, The Home Front Cares.

The Home Front Cares provides emergency financial aid and other support to Colorado service members, veterans and their families. Since 2003, the nonprofit has raised more than $4 million to help Colorado veterans and their families with emergency grants to cover rent, utilities, child care, car repairs and other essential expenses.

The Poker Run starts 10 a.m. Saturday at VFW Post 6461, 753 Santa Fe Ave. in Fountain. Registration is $15 for single riders and $20 for double riders. The 115-mile ride includes stops (and approximate times) at:

The run ends back in Fountain at the Country Bar, 606 S. Santa Fe Ave, with a raffle, barbecue lunch and Texas Hold’em poker tournament.

With just four fulltime staff, The Home Front Cares is an almost entirely volunteer organization, many of them military veterans themselves. All money raised in Colorado stays in Colorado, and the organization’s administrative overhead is under 14 percent, according to their latest audit. For more information about The Home Front Cares’ mission, visit www.thehomefrontcares.org.