Since his days filming the CBS television show Armed & Famous in Muncie, actor Erik Estrada has wanted to help the city.
Estrada’s latest effort is to help raise funds for renovations to the Muncie Police Athletic League (PAL) Club on South Walnut Street, where hundreds of local children and teenagers learn to box, wrestle and play baseball and other sports. “There’s a building here that is badly in need of repair,” Estrada said, referring to the PAL club facility. Best known for his role as “Ponch” in the 1970s TV show CHiPs, Estrada came to town Sunday for the 11th annual Observation and Awareness Ride and a “Pancakes with Ponch” breakfast, both organized to benefit the PAL club. Nearly 150 people attended the breakfast, and 325 participated in the 65-mile motorcycle ride. The events raised more than $5,000 for the PAL club. Standing outside the Muncie City Hall in front of an original California Highway Patrol motorcycle, on which he took photographs with fans at the event, Estrada explained how a PAL club in New York City helped him when he was younger. “It was just a cool place to go,” he said. And it was a place that kept kids off the streets and helped them to become “contributing citizens to the community.”
Plus, “it gives the kids a chance to see the police in a completely different light,” said Muncie Police Officer Donnie Garrett, who has worked with the PAL club for several years.