METAMORA, Ohio — On Sunday afternoon, 400 riders rode off from Evergreen High School to make the 40-mile drive for the Sierah Joughin Memorial Motorcycle Ride.
Joughin was abducted and murdered in 2016 and her death sent shockwaves throughout the community.
"Personally, after what happened to her, I was very afraid," said Kelsie Langenderfer, Joughin's best friend. "Very scared to go out into the world."
She said she was in a state of shock for months, and she and her friends always traveled in pairs.
Mark Lucas was a rider at Sunday's event. His daughters used to spend time with Joughin, having just returned from a concert with her only a week before her death.
He said Sierah's death shook him and his whole family.
"Devastating, just devastating. Just a wonderful young lady that could have been our daughter, could have been anyone else's," Lucas said. "Just devastating."
In the wake of her death, Joughin's boyfriend, Josh Kolasinski, set out to create a program to help keep women in his community safe. Eventually he came up with Keeping Our Girls Safe (KOGS), a free self-defense program.
"We have a great class, we have great instructors," Kolasinski said. "Opening up all the girls' eyes it's just fantastic to see and I definitely believe we are making a big impact."
Funding for KOGS comes entirely from community support, and the Memorial Motorcycle Ride is the biggest source of income for the course. The riders say they're happy to help the cause and prevent further violence against women.
"It feels like you're doing something," Lucas said. "I hope a lot of young kids and young girls take advantage of this because it could be the difference between life and death."
Langenderfer took the classes after the loss of her friend, and she says they've given her a new confidence.
"That's what we try to do in these classes is give people a little bit of hope and a little bit of comfort knowing that there's things you can do if you get put into a situation like that," she said.
While the community continues to heal from the devastating loss of Sierah, motorcyclists are raising funds to help prevent future tragedies from happening.
"I mean that's why we all do this," Kolasinski said. "That's why everyone shows up for this ride. We don't want to see this happen. No one should ever go through what we had to go through."