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Bikers deliver
holiday meals
The Lanakila Meals-on-Wheels
program gets a lift from
motorcycle clubs and
other volunteers
Petite 92-year-old Dorothy Teves leaned on a chain-link fence in her daughter's Kalihi Valley front yard before lunchtime yesterday, waiting for a Christmas treat.
When 18 black-leather-clad bikers on Harley Davidsons roared into the driveway, she broke into a wide smile and stepped forward to greet them like old friends.
Children of several of the riders jumped off the back of their parents' bikes and out of a pickup truck carrying still-warm ham dinners prepared by the Lanakila Meals-on-Wheels program.
As they piled the meal -- including a juice drink, bread and pie -- into her arms, Teves exclaimed: "Oh, my God, thank you. You're giving me the whole store! Thanks a million."
With her family gathered around, Teves didn't really need the meal yesterday, but she obviously relished the delivery.
At top, Danielle Hershey, 7, Pauline "Tazz" Walton, and Kepoikai Lyons, 10, delivered a dinner from Meals on Wheels to Lawrence Pedro yesterday. "I didn't expect this," Pedro said after seeing the motorcyclists in front of his house.
"Now we look forward to it," she said, as Teves posed for numerous photos with bearded and tattooed bikers wearing Santa and elf hats in addition to their traditional biker garb. "They're some very fine people."
The scene was similar across Oahu yesterday, as 300 volunteers -- many of them members of local motorcycle clubs -- delivered 1,100 hot meals to elderly and disabled clients served by the Lanakila Meals-on-Wheels program.
Oahu bikers started helping out on Thanksgiving and Christmas days about nine years ago, said Jesse "Chief" Baker, state secretary-treasurer of the Vietnam Veterans' Motorcycle Club.
Baker said he was inspired to get local motorcycle clubs involved because his late mother used to get frozen meals through a meal-delivery program on the mainland.
"Her eyes weren't good enough to see the numbers on the microwave, so she couldn't use them," he recalled.
The unconventional delivery "makes the senior citizens happy when they see us," said Baker's wife, Shorty. "A lot of them are alone and I think the holidays is the worst for them."
Residents peered from their apartment doors after motorcyclists participating in the program pulled into the parking lot.
"We relieve other volunteers that do it (deliver meals) on a daily basis, so they can have a holiday with their families," said John "Pops" Partin, a member of the Refugees motorcycle club.
For many, volunteering is a family affair. Navy electronics technician Patrick Thompson brought his grade-school-age daughter Patience. She waved and flashed the shaka sign at residents as she rode behind him through Kalihi-Palama neighborhoods and was thrilled to be in a photo with Teves.
"I was raised by bikers since I was 8, and we're all in this," said Aileen Hershey, pointing to her mom and dad, "Tazz" and "Buggs" Walton, longtime Harley riders who love helping with the meal deliveries. Also involved is her daughter Danielle, 7, husband Ray and a calabash uncle, Hershey said.
Lawrence Pedro was watching football yesterday when a knock came on his door. He'd already talked to his children, who live on neighbor islands, early yesterday morning and wasn't expecting visitors.
"I didn't expect this. It's really a surprise," he said after a chorus of "Jingle Bells" in his front yard.
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