Professor Mike Voight reports. . . .
During the October celebration of national physical therapy month, approximately 100 Belmont University Physical Therapy students and faculty volunteered their time to assist with the organization and on-site operation for the 4th annual “Dierks Bentley Miles & Music for Kids” charity motorcycle ride and concert to benefit Vanderbilt’s Children Hospital. The ride took place on October 11th when thousands of leather-wearing folks gathered on their ‘hogs’ to ride along-side Dierks Bentley for his annual Miles and Music for Kids. Starting off at the Cool Springs Harley Davidson in Franklin, TN; the ride wound its way through the Natchez Trace down to Riverfront Park downtown Nashville. There, Dierks was joined by some his best celebrity buds to entertain the masses … literally THOUSANDS of people all to raise money for Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital.
A couple of days before the ride and concert, Dierks surprised the physical therapy students by coming to class to thank them personally for all their hard work in making this even a success. Bentley told the students “We could not have taken this event to the level it now is without the help of my friends in the School of Physical Therapy at Belmont University.” He explained that this year’s money would be going directly to families affected, who had children being treated at the hospital. That way they didn’t have to worry about all the ‘other stuff’ and they could concentrate on their child’s illness.
At the show, Wynonna kicked things off. Dierks introduced her himself, expressing how amazing it was that the legendary red head decided to join the ride. Wynonna worked the crowd well and seemed very at ease; joking all the while. Eric Church was next and seemed genuinely surprised by the reception he received. Several other celebrities jumped on stage to perform however Darius Rucker was definitely the crowd favorite. He sang the longest set off all the openers…All of his hits and then some including his Hootie and the Blowfish stuff…Which, by the way, the crowd LOVED!!!
Last but certainly not least was Dierks Bentley. He bopped through many of his hits and at one point was joined breifly for a few songs by Three Doors Down frontman Brad Arnold to sing a few tunes. All to soon, the sun had set and it was time to shut the party down. The Titans were fixin to play on Sunday night national television and the thousands of bikes needed to get off the streets. Dierks presented a giant check for $215,000 dollars to the children of Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital; proving that it was a HUGE success. Since the inception of this annual event, over $800,000 has been raised to benefit Vanderbilt Childrens Hospital and the Childrens Miracle Network.
This was a great learning experience that was not only fun for the students. Not only did they get to meet and work with the stars of country music, they also helped the community in a large way.