Big Brothers Big Sisters of St. Lucie, Indian River and Okeechobee Counties, which has provided children
with one to one mentors on the Treasure Coast since 1984, is hosting its first ever Throttles Up!
Motorcycle Raffle. On May 28th, during Memorial Day weekend, the agency will award one lucky winner
a custom 2007 Harley Davidson® Night Train. Harley Davidson described the low profile bike as “lean
and mean,” and although it was a popular model, they were discontinued in 2009, making a 2007 with
only 15,500 miles a unique find.
The story of this motorcycle is as powerful as the bike itself. BBBS launched the “Big Mission,” in 2020
with support from Impact 100 of Indian River County to recruit Veterans, Law Enforcement and First
Responders as Big Brothers and Big Sisters and the raffle bike connects directly to this same audience.
The motorcycle was originally owned and customized by a United States Army Green Beret who took the
famous blacked-out Night Train to a three-dimensional hand painted copper flame design with an
embedded image of the POW / MIA flag. While deployed, he sustained injuries rendering him unable to
ride and sold it to a Sheriff’s Deputy outside of Nashville, TN.
This year, the Big Brothers Big Sisters Board of Directors committed to hosting at least one new
fundraiser that could remain regardless of constantly changing Covid rates. As in-person fundraising
events were canceled over the last 18 months, “the incredible BBBS Team kept our services to children
in all three counties moving forward when it seemed impossible, and that tenacity and creativity has
been a powerful motivator in being open to new ideas in every part of our agency,” said CEO Stacey
Watson-Mesley.
Watson-Mesley was alerted about this specific motorcycle by a serendipitous source – her own mentor.
Retired educator Susan Mendel-Hausman has been Stacey’s mentor for over twenty years and is a major
influence in her life and career. Susan knew the Deputy who owned it had decided to postpone riding
for a few years while his children finished school and knew about the Big Mission. She sent Stacey
pictures of this custom motorcycle and from there BBBS embraced the idea of a motorcycle raffle.
“As soon as I saw the pictures from Sue,” Stacey said, “it was clear this should be the BBBS Throttles Up!
bike.” After reviewing the bike specs, maintenance and quality, the opportunity was shared with Board
Members, COO Debbie Hawley and Director of Development Taylor Farnsworth. As different as this
might be for the agency, the enthusiastic BBBS leaders decided to raffle a motorcycle.
“Motorcycle raffles are not new, but they are new to us, and we just want to make sure we honor this
incredible opportunity in every way,” said Watson-Mesley, who is married to a Veteran and is also a
motorcycle enthusiast, “I understand the powerful aesthetics and messaging of this bike as well as the
quality of the machine; it was meant for this moment.” She and her husband traveled over 1600 miles to
trailer the motorcycle to Florida from Tennessee.
Only 650 tickets are available at a donation of $100 each. If you are interested in tickets or hosting the
motorcycle at your event, please call 772-466-8535 or visit online at http://www.bbbsbigs.org/win for more
information
