Toronto Tuners Show Support for Reach Out Worldwide

Hundreds came out for a Toronto event to show support for Paul Walker’s charity, Reach Out Worldwide in the wake of the actors tragic death.

When actor Paul Walker passed away in a car crash with driver Roger Rodas, the whole world stopped what they were doing and paid attention. Many people knew Paul for his role in the Fast & Furious franchise as Brian “The Buster” O’Conner but what wasn’t well know was his heavy involvement in charitable causes. Reach Out WorldWide (ROWW) is a not for profit organization of skilled volunteers in support of world scale disasters created by none other than Paul Walker himself.

“ROWW operates on the philosophy that by making a difference in just one person’s life, the world has been changed for the better.”

I have always been a “geek” at heart but what also played an important part of my history was my life as a tuner thanks to the likes of the Fast & Furious when it came out in 2001. Having a lost a friend myself to different circumstance, hearing the news of Paul Walker’s death struck home on more than just losing a great person and actor to a film series I truly loved. Like many people will get together to enjoy the next Marvel or DC film that hits the big screen, tuners always come together for a Fast & Furious movie. Now, for those of you that are wondering just what a tuner is, it can be easily explained as a car enthusiast who takes enjoyment in modifying or building their car in the way they like. Not too far off from what cosplayers do if you think about it, being that its just a different hobby with different interests. I don’t intend on getting into any history lessons or personal resumes on what I did or was involved with when I lived my tuner lifestyle to the fullest, but I do however want to share with you something anyone can appreciate no matter what your passions and interests are.

Within a matter of days following the announcement of Paul Walker’s death, a gentleman by the name of Tim Knight set in motion a event to bring the tuner scene of Toronto together to raise funds for ROWW in memory of Paul Walker. Tim made contact with ROWW and made his intentions to raise funds clear to them and explained where he was from and what he planned on doing to make this event a reality. Very quickly many people began to see a event page come up on Facebook calling all tuners who were able to come, make their way to a meet location in Toronto and bring whoever would like to support this charitable cause.

On December 8th, I made my way to meet some friends I knew in the local area that expressed interest in going to the Paul Walker Memorial Meet. Roughly 40 of us gathered, grabbed our coffee and made our way down the highway towards Toronto. (No speed limits were broken and everyone paid the utmost respect to the rules of the road.) So far, it was pretty cool considering we are all going to a gathering that some would say is built on the backbone of a street racing and crime film franchise. The fact is, Fast & Furious movies only peak your interest in the cars and lifestyle. The community as a whole is very much a close knit family that strives day in and day out to give themselves a good name and shake the stigma of stereotypically being called street racers. There’s always a few bad apples in a crowd, that’s a given, but on this night everyone had the respect and memory of Paul Walker in mind.

Pulling into the meet location in Toronto was where the spectacle began to take shape in front of my eyes. The parking lot was packed with cars and people. As I got out of my car and make my way to what appeared to be a tent set up as the main hub of the meet, I noticed there is hot drinks being served with a minimum donation amount to have one. The drinks were donated and this gave the event the ability to use all the donations and send them straight to ROWW just as promised. There was a book at the front table where you were encouraged to sign your name and add a personal quote of any kind. The book would then be sent down to ROWW to show the Toronto support toward their organization.

I had the chance briefly to meet with the event organizer Tim Knight and speak about what this meet meant to him and his mission plan. Tim was very quick to explain that he wasn’t looking for any recognition for this event and by no means wanted to use this to promote anything other than raising money for ROWW and giving people and opportunity to do so while paying honour and respect to Paul Walker. I honestly don’t think Tim could have positioned it any better than he did during his speech to the thousands of people in attendance before we all got in our cars and proceeded to drive single file in one lane of traffic to another site deemed the memorial site.

“I know all you guys spend hundreds of dollars on stickers for your cars, all I’m asking is please make a donation no matter how much to either the meet so we can send it to ROWW, or even directly to the Reach Out website itself.”

847 cars pulled into the final meet location after a very slow convoy through downtown Toronto. Everyone gathered around Tim once again as we had a moment of silence for Paul Walker and lit a candle in his memory. From that point, everyone proceeded to their vehicles and that’s when unspoken tuner honour, in my opinion, took place. Each and every car began to rev their engines, while in park, almost as if by the sure harmony we could make Paul hear us and look down with pride. The sound for me as a long standing car enthusiast, was absolutely breathtaking.

If you would like to donate to ROWW or even read more about Paul Walker’s charity, I encourage you to follow the link: ROWW.org

In conclusion, I would like to thank everyone that took part in helping raise money for ROWW at the meet, and to Tim Knight for organizing such an inspirational event on short notice. I hope you all enjoyed a little piece of what Fast & Furious truly means to me and many others out there affected by the news of a great man and actor Paul Walker. I’ll leave you with a direct quote from Paul himself.

“If one day the speed kills me, don’t cry because I was smiling.”