The Power of Diverse Networking Breaks Barriers….

A while back, I came across a biker vest in an abandoned storage unit. I did not want to sell it or throw it away, and I had no idea what to do with it. It had multiple patches on it including an Iraq War Vet patch and multiple “in memory of” patches with names of soldiers. I remembered a bad motorcycle accident that I responded to years ago, where the biker was severely injured and had horrible road burns. When we attempted to cut his vest off to get to his wounds, he became combative and started to beg us not to cut through the vest. I respected his wishes and cut the stings on the side (that could be replaced) and was able to treat him. After his recovery, he found my crew at our station and explained the significance of a biker vest to the owner when they belong to a club.

I still did not know much about bikers though and was stuck staring at this vest for weeks. Even though I did not fully understand the biker culture, this vest had enough on it to tell me that the owner was someone who fought for this country, lost some brothers in the battle, and then had rough luck to end up losing their belongings in a storage unit. This stayed in the back of my mind. 

This weekend, I was pumping gas when I started hearing bikes coming into the parking lot with some “intimidating looking dudes”. It looked like a biker club was meeting up to ride and they were all huddled up in the corner of the parking lot. So what did I do? I approached them! I was worried they would automatically not welcome me because of the scarf on my head but was surprised it was the total opposite…they were honestly surprised this “Smiling Muslim female” is approaching them saying “Hey Guys!” but they greeted me back with smiles! 

I told them what I found and how I would love their help finding the truthful owner of this vest. These guys were so excited to help and began the hunt right away through networking with other biker clubs in the area! Within 16 minutes, we located the rightful owner of the vest, who is a war vet who has been going through rough times.

Today, one of the biker club chapter members met me to pick up the vest to return to its owner and I got to learn so much more about the vest, but most importantly, I got to learn about how these biker club chapter members treat each other and how welcoming they are. The stereotype that I was unconsciously carrying around will never be the same and I have forever gained some biker buddies in my area! Which is never a bad thing! You never know when you might need a few dozen big guys on Harley's to come help you out!