Don’t let the name fool you: the Road Hunters are not a biker gang.
In fact, when you see a Road Hunter strolling down the street, decked out in his black leather vest and piston-emblazoned patches, he doesn’t want you to slink away, he wants you to come up and give him a hug.
Bryan Sykes, the president and founder of Oliver’s newest service club, said his organization is built on Christian values and a sense of brotherhood. The pistons on their crest and goggle-wearing skull on the back of their jackets are simply a call-out to many of their members’ common hobbies.
“With the black leather vests comes the stigma of [a biker gang], right? Some of us ride motorcycles, but most of us drive minivans,” he said.
“We like the black leather because it looks neat. It’s a unity thing, and it does stand out,” Sykes explained. “Eventually we want it to be approachable; we want people on the street to be able to walk up if they have a problem and ask us for help.”
Sykes created the Road Hunters late last year by pulling his vast network of friends together for a common cause.
“I’ve been a member of other charity clubs before, and I thought it would be more of a brotherhood, but it turns out to be more of a beer drinking thing, and they really don’t do anything,” Sykes said.
He explained that many of the Road Hunters are guys who are at a stage where they’re looking to make a difference in their communities, and their new organization gives them the opportunity to do that.
Mike Kriesel, the group’s sergeant-at-arms, wanted “to do something for the community,” but wasn’t interested in any of the traditional service clubs. He said with the Road Hunters he not only gets to do that, but gets a sense of brotherhood along with it.
Since their inception last October the Road Hunters have grown from a couple of Sykes’ buddies to 20 members scattered across the province.
But the pumping pistons driving the new club forward is its Oliver chapter, where Sykes and about 10 other Road Hunters have already embarked on several projects, including starting a lunch program for students at Oliver Elementary School, handing out Christmas hampers to families in need and donating warm winter clothes for the RCMP to hand out to the homeless.
The group picks its projects based on the need its members see in the community. Most of the projects have been funded out of the members’ own pockets, and conducted with little to no fanfare. The goal, Sykes said, is simply to help people out; whoever needs it, in whatever way they can.
“We’re not designated to one charity. We just see someone in need, and we help them if we can,” Kriesel said.
“One of the key things that I believe is that by giving someone a hand up in the community, you’re actually enabling them to help out in the community as well,” Sykes said.
A perfect example, he said, can be found in some of the Road Hunters’ own members, who were given jobs by others in the group. Now they are able to help out the community through their work with the club.
Sykes said the Road Hunters hope to continue to grow, and are ramping up their charity efforts this year. To help, they will be doing a bottle drive in Oliver on March 5.
Members will be canvassing door-to-door in Oliver asking for perishable food donations for the food bank and recyclables. On that day empties can also be dropped off to members at T-2 Market Bottle Depot located at 5980 Sawmill Road in Oliver between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.
By Trevor Nichols
