Bangor man flips 400-pound tire for charity

BANGOR, Maine (WABI) - It was a grueling hot summer day in Bangor. But that didn’t stop Mike Laliberte from completing his annual tire flip.

The task at hand was flipping a 400-pound tire exactly one mile while aiming to raise $22,000 for the Maine veteran’s project.

“My primary concerns right now is the upcoming heating fuel season. Right now, you know, we’re just a couple days into summer but unfortunately, fall is coming very quickly. And the tumultuous prices of heating fuel have us kind of worried. So, I would say a lot of this money is actually going to go to supplement the heating fuel budget,” said Shawn Goodwin the President of the Maine Veterans Project.

For three hours mike flipped the tire through blistering heat refusing to give up.

“Mike has overcome so much and it’s so important for our children to see the way that he responds to the series of events that has occurred in his life and he’s just taking them head on,” said Mike’s wife Noell Palmieri.

In the home stretch he was cheered on by a sea of his friends and family.

And it certainly gave him the final push he needed.

“That is one of the best feelings ever. Everybody supported me on this. It definitely helped me get the time I did get,” Laliberte said.

For the 7th year in a row Mike completed his tire flip and enjoyed what is perhaps the most well-deserved ice-cold beer of all time.

While the tire will rest for the foreseeable future, the push to raise money will continue into July.

To learn more about where to donate you can visit the Maine Veterans Project Facebook page.

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