Operation Freedom: How One Man Is Fighting to Keep Patriot Alive

Somewhere around 2008, Patriot resident Joey Rider sat down and wrote himself a note. He titled it "Operation Freedom." It was, in his words, a guide, a map toward the one thing he had wanted since high school: to work for himself. He had no way of knowing then that the same drive would one day turn toward saving the town he grew up in.

A lifelong Patriot resident, Joey opened Rider Realty in 2020, and its success has quietly funded the community projects that followed. For as long as he can remember, he has watched Patriot slowly fade. Dilapidated, vacant homes had begun to eat away at the town's beauty, so around 2019, he and his dad started buying up properties and cleaning them up.

Then in 2022 came the Patriot General Store. Joey was afraid the store would close, leaving locals without even a place to buy basic food. Saving it became his first real community project. What he saw inside that store changed everything: neighbors counting out change for a loaf of bread. The need was impossible to ignore.

Around that time, Tye Sullivan of the Switzerland County Community Foundation connected Joey with the Cincinnati Freestore Foodbank, which was looking for a place in Patriot to set up a food pantry. When Joey asked who would run it, there was no one. So he decided he would, with the help of the support system that has always been behind him. In February of 2025, the Patriot Passion Project was born. The first food distribution came that August, and the pantry now feeds an average of 180 people every month.

Each monthly distribution takes a mountain of prep. Joey orders food from the Freestore Foodbank and meat from Roeschlein Meats, and he has built connections with people in Dearborn County who supply bread and other perishables.

The hardest part was the beginning: creating a 501(c)(3), learning the Freestore's systems, and figuring out a monthly "menu" for the distribution bags. The ongoing challenge is money, raising enough to keep the program running. The community has been wonderful with its help and support.

We asked Joey what has kept him going, and he did not talk about numbers. He talked about the elderly who come through the food line. That is what reassures him he is doing something that matters. Elderly care is something we could all do better at, in his view. He lights up talking about the young people who volunteer, the ones who will eventually have to carry this work forward.

He has met some remarkable people along the way. A couple named Scott and Lisa have volunteered nearly every pantry weekend, and Joey is not sure he would even know them without it. Jim and Carol from Dearborn County donate an incredible amount of food to the surrounding areas. Among the younger volunteers, one stands out: Gabe, who has missed only a single pantry since the beginning and is always helpful and respectful. Gabe will be a freshman at Switzerland County High School this year.

The community, in Joey's estimation, gives him far more credit than he deserves.

Joey's mission is bigger than one Saturday a month. He wants to see Patriot sustainable and around for at least another 200 years. That means filling the vacant lots with housing, which he hopes will bring new businesses, and maybe someday even some kind of school building back to town.

His dream is a day when the food pantry is no longer needed at all. Above everything, he hopes more people get involved by serving on boards, planning events, and investing in the town's future.

The Patriot Passion Project distributes food on the fourth Saturday of every month. Joey arrives at 8 a.m. to set up, and distribution runs from 10 a.m. to noon. Volunteers are always welcome.

Those who would like to support the effort financially can mail a check to Patriot Passion Project, PO Box 18, Patriot, IN 47038, or send a donation via Venmo to @patriotpassionproject.