David Hirsch finishes 'Dad's Honor Ride' in Chicago

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Twenty-four million kids across America are growing up without their dads and David Hirsch wants to change that.

Hirsch rode from Santa Monica to Chicago to support local charities that help dads become more active in their kids' lives.

He finally made it to his last stop Sunday, a long dad-inspired ride ending on Father's Day.

"The purpose of the ride is to honor dads to raise awareness for fatherhood charities along the way and to raise resources for those charities," Hirsch said.

So he rode and rode, and rode some more. Twenty-one days in over 2,100 miles, averaging about 115 miles a day, all to tell dads along the way that they are someone special.

"We honored hundreds and hundreds, well over 1,000 dads," said Hirsch. "We have a unique way of doing that with a coin, The Great Dad Coin, which we presented to dads in English, Spanish and Polish."

David ended his ride at Progressive Baptist Church at 36th and Wentworth where he wished church members a happy father's day.

Sunday was his first real stop. He never took a break along his route, but he did stop at local organizations to take part in father's programs. All of this is very personal to Hirsch.

"I learned about 18 years ago when we had our fifth child that there's about 24 million kids growing up without their dads and that's just wrong," he said. "Someone needs to do something about it."

So he does, and will do so for as long as he can.

This was Hirsch's inaugural ride he says he might not do the ride again, but he is still going to be fighting for the cause.