Generous biker's lucky day

Before Kathy Anderson won a gleaming new Harley-Davidson motorcycle, she considered herself to be rather unlucky.

She and her partner of 15 years, Sue Barry, were part of a crowd of about 1,000 Sonoma County riders at an August motorcycle run to benefit the Council on Aging, which provides about 1,000 hot meals to seniors each day through its Meals on Wheels program.

"It's the best run ever and it's a good cause, so we went. You end up at the Petaluma fairgrounds for a barbecue and an auction and we decided to spend about $20 on raffle tickets, including two tickets for five dollars for the motorcycle," said Anderson, a postal worker in Petaluma.

The motorcycle up for grabs was a 2007 Street Bob Harley Davidson with an estimated value of $14,500, donated in part by Michael's Harley Davidson shop in Cotati.

Jim Lesker, owner of Michael's, has been a big wheel in charitable circles in Sonoma County for many years. With help from a roaring army of riders, Lesker knows how to raise money for good causes. He has donated bikes to benefit a muscular dystrophy campaign and the Valley of the Moon Children's Home, where many motorcycle riding enthusiasts make annual Christmas and Easter runs to cheer the children.

"I looked around and thought what Council on Aging does was really a good fit for us. I mean, you go to hog meetings and there's a lot of silver hair in that crowd," he said.

Organizers drummed up interest in the auction months in advance by displaying the donated motorcycle at community events.

"I think the reason we sold so many tickets is that so many people saw that bike. They took it to Wednesday night markets and that helped a lot," said Shirley Zane, head of the Council on Aging.

In addition to serving meals, the Council on Aging has the only kitchen that can serve as a disaster relief kitchen in Sonoma County.

"We just had a $270,000 backup generator installed because there will be floods, there will be fires and there will probably be an earthquake -- if not a flu epidemic -- and working with the Red Cross and FEMA, we will be able to feed our community," Zane said.

Supporting programs and disaster readiness takes money and Zane said she appreciates the community support of events like the motorcycle runs for Meals on Wheels.

"We netted about $45,000, about one month's grocery budget, which is great," she said.

Kathy Anderson may have contributed just a tiny portion of that total, but winning the bike changed her thinking about her luck and galvanized the way she views giving.

"When we were buying the tickets, I said, 'I'm not lucky' and the man selling them said, 'Don't say that.' So I said, 'Hey, I'm the luckiest person in the world. Give us two tickets.' I put my partner's name on one and she put mine on the other," she recalled.

Lesker said that in the minutes before Anderson and Barry bought their two tickets, another rider ponied up $500 for 200 chances of his own to win the gleaming bike.

Kathy Anderson's ticket was the winner.

Happy to ride on the back of her partner's motorcycle for years, Anderson may now be inspired to learn to drive one herself. She said she'll definitely keep going on runs.

"We're part of the Redwood Riders motorcycle group and so we support a lot of charities. I give to muscular dystrophy, to St. Jude's because my mom did, the Humane Society and other local causes, usually having to do with animals. I try to give as much as I can," she said.

You can reach Staff Writer Rayne Wolfe at 521-5240 or rayne.wolfe@pressdemocrat.com.