Ride day: Saturday, September 19, 2026. Details

Est. 2009 · Ride or drive

18th Annual poker runfor the kids

Saturday, September 19, 2026
Happy's Place, Dubuque, Iowa

All proceeds go to pediatric brain tumor and heart defect research at the University of Iowa Stead Family Children's Hospital. It’s personal. We need cures.

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The Research For The Kids logo: the words set around a red heart, with a grey awareness ribbon reading Sarah Jean Forever Remembered

How the day works

Pay $20, draw a card at each stop, and come back to Happy's Place for a meal and the auction. You do not need a motorcycle and you do not need to know how to play poker.

When
Saturday, September 19, 2026
Register
8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.Kickstands up at 11:30 a.m. sharp
Where
Happy's Place2323 Rockdale Rd, Dubuque, IA 52003
Entry
$20 per handRegistration includes a meal ticket for Happy's Place. Cash prizes for the top three poker hands.
Auction
Live at 6:00 p.m.Silent auction items open at registration.
See the route and the schedule
The 18th Annual Research For The Kids poster
Print the poster (PDF)
A small-town main street lined on both sides with parked motorcycles under a blue sky, storefronts and flags behind them

Dubuque County, every September

Main street, full of bikes

This is what September looks like

Several hundred riders, four bars, one small-town park, and a hall full of people waiting to hear the number.

A long column of motorcycles riding through a small Iowa town on the poker run Rolling out The ride leaves Happy's Place together at 11:30 a.m. sharp. A packed crowd under the Farley water tower with a Research For The Kids flag flying The committee and families holding a large check for $276,103.37 made out to the U of I Children's Hospital Motorcycles lined along the street outside Happy's Place with a fire truck at the front

All the photos

Last year’s number

17th Annual, presented to the University of Iowa Stead Family Children's Hospital.

Since 2009 the ride has given $3.3 million to brain tumor and heart defect research. Our biggest single year was 2022 at $344,110.22.

Every year, and where the money goes
Volunteers on a hall floor holding black cards with white numerals spelling out the year's total
The committee reveals the total on stage at the end of the night, one card at a time.

Why we ride

Sarah Reiss and Matthew Wessels are the inspiration for Research For The Kids. Both were treated at the University of Iowa Stead Family Children's Hospital. The money goes to research for every kid who comes after them.

Matthew Wessels speaking into a microphone at the ride kickoff, beside the Research For The Kids banner

In honor of

Matthew

Born with a heart condition that took three open-heart surgeries and years of procedures. In December 2022 he received a new heart. Today he is doing well.

The Reiss family gathered together in Research For The Kids shirts

In memory of

Sarah

Diagnosed with medulloblastoma, a cancerous brain tumor, in May 2008. Her fight ended on September 29, 2010. She was 22. We miss her beyond words.

Read Sarah and Matthew’s story

Six ways to help

You do not need a motorcycle, and you do not need to be there on the day.