The Bikers Hand enables 140 charities on the Central Coast to do their crucial work
Most people have never heard of The Bikers Hand.
That’s because the volunteer-run charity doesn’t work directly with the people who need help. Instead, it supports more than 140 charities and community organisations across Sydney, the Central Coast and Newcastle, supplying the food and essential items that keep their services running.
Founded by Tony Davis and a group of fellow riders, The Bikers Hand traces its beginnings to 2016, when Tony’s son started a homeless meal service at Wentworth Park in Sydney. Tony and his wife, Mechelle, joined him, and through that work became part of a growing network of grassroots charities supporting people doing it tough. They also saw how many of those organisations and their volunteers were paying for food themselves.
“Eventually, you get to a point where you think it’s not enough to just see it,” Tony says. “If you’re in a position where you can help a few people, I think everybody should do it.”
Two years later, he registered The Bikers Hand not as yet another frontline service, but as a free supplier whose sole purpose was to stand behind those existing charities.
Today, from its hub in Charmhaven on the Central Coast, the charity supplies food and essential items to school breakfast programs, women’s refuges, domestic violence services, organisations supporting people leaving incarceration, homeless meal services and even animal rescue groups in need of pet food, old towels and blankets.
Despite its reach, The Bikers Hand remains entirely volunteer-run. Tony works full time alongside the charity and neither he nor Mechelle have ever taken a salary.
“I call it a true charity,” Tony says. “It’s all done for the right reasons, and that reason is just to help people in need.”
As demand has grown, so has the cost of meeting it. Before December, The Bikers Hand was spending around $11,000 a month supplying its charity network. Now, that figure has climbed to $26,000.
The people relying on help has changed too.
“It used to be homeless individuals you’d see at a meal service,” Tony says. “Now it’s whole families. Double-income families who just can’t make ends meet once they’ve paid rent and bills and fuel. Meal services that used to get 10 or 20 people are now getting 90 or 100 people lining up.
Some of the hardest stories come from local schools. Teachers visit the warehouse weekly to collect breakfast supplies.
“Just to give the kids some museli or cereal for breakfast so they’ve got something in their belly at the start of the day.”
When Tony was writing the business plan for The Bikers Hand, a friend helping him asked where he hoped the charity would be in five years. His answer was simple.
“I said I’d love to be closing it down,” he says. “Because that would mean we wouldn’t be needed anymore.”
More than five years on, the opposite is true. The charity has tripled in size. The warehouse doors open for a constant traffic of people picking up food staples, hampers and frozen meals, boxes of pasta and tins of fruit.
Around 80% of The Bikers Hand’s funding comes from Central Coast clubs like The Ary, Wyong Roos and Mounties Group through ClubGRANTS.
Tony Davis (fourth from right) at the group’s ‘Snag for a toy’ event which collects for its Christmas toy run
“I’d have no hesitation saying that without those clubs, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do,” Tony says. Bendigo Bank and Rotary also help keep the warehouse operating, alongside food donations from from private companies.
For Wyong Roos group community manager Gina Coghlan, supporting The Bikers Hand was an easy decision.
“Their food relief program has a genuine ripple effect, flowing through to other local charities across the region,” she says. “They’re entirely volunteer-run, so every dollar goes where it’s needed, into food on tables, not administration overheads. When you support The Bikers Hand, you’re supporting the whole community.”
Mounties community engagement executive David English says the charity’s growth from supporting around 30 organisations to more than 140 highlights the increasing pressure on grassroots services.
“Mounties is proud to support The Bikers Hand because of the practical assistance and compassion they provide to individuals and families facing hardship,” he says. “Through this partnership, we’ve seen the positive impact that local, community-based support can have in improving wellbeing and helping people through difficult times.
“It makes it more important than ever that clubs support grassroots charities through the ClubGRANTS program. These organisations play a vital role in meeting community needs, and club funding helps ensure they continue delivering essential services to those who need them most.”
That community support extends beyond the warehouse. Each Christmas, The Bikers Hand hosts the Central Coast Toy Run, where locals swap a new toy for a bacon and egg roll. The toys are then wrapped before hundreds of riders deliver them to local families. Last year, they collected enough toys to bring Christmas to around 180 families.
Tony still hopes one day his charity won’t be needed. Until then, the riders will keep turning up, making sure the charities supporting the community have the food and resources they need to keep showing up too.
More information, including details of the Central Coast Toy Run on 8 November, is available at The Bikers Hand website.