Bikers encouraging child sex abuse victims to live without fear

BOSTON — An unexpected ally is stepping up to help children who are victims of abuse.

Bikes from across the Commonwealth said it’s their mission to help children feel safe again, and they’ve created an extended family to make that happen.

With tattoos, leather jackets and roaring engines, the bikers aren’t unique – until you see them with hoola hoops, polished nails and bubbles and discover the reason why they ride.

They're Bikers Against Child Abuse, or BACA.

“BACA to me is letting a kid be a kid again,” Stache said. “Letting them grow up not in fear.”

“Abuse is something that happens in our back yards,” Springs said. “It’s something people don’t want to talk about. Kids need to know that there are adults out there that are good people that want to support them.”

That’s BACA’s mission. A mission that one young woman said changed her life.

“I feel like without that, I wouldn’t be who I am today,” Stormy said.

She said she was introduced to BACA shortly after she revealed to her family a neighbor sexually abused her for years when she was a child.”

“Our life was torpedoed,” mother Christine said. “It completely exploded.”

Christine said the situation was so bad that she was afraid to leave her house alone.

“I was afraid she was going to hurt herself,” Christine said. “Not because she wasn’t loved or cared for, but because she didn’t know how to react to the situation.”

Christine said she was reluctant to turn to a group of bikers for help, but was running out of options.

So she reached out and set up the first meeting, when every single member showed up at their home on their bikes.

“They totally embraced her immediately,” Christine said.

They laid the groundwork for a lifetime network of support.

Stormy received a card, jacket and teddy bear.

“He represented safety,” Stormy said. “He represented a new family.”

And they choose their “road name,” like “Stache” and “Springs.”

She chose “Stormy.”

Stormy had a new, extended family that empowered her, even as she faced her abuser in court.

“It made me feel safer,” she said. “It made me feel so important, I guess. Which is something I really wasn’t feeling. They will never, ever let someone hurt you.”

“By being party of our family, we are your protectors,” Stache said. “We are your prothers. We are your sisters 24/7, 365 days a year.”

That family now has a mantra, “I will not live in fear.”

“We just want to give all of ourselves, all of that support to take some of the weight off them,” Springs said. “All of that support  to take some of the weight off of them and disperse it amongst ourselves.”

“They were invaluable to us,” Christine said. “All of us.”

“If I can help, and I hate to say it, even just one kid, it makes my life worth riding a bike for them,” Stache said.

There are currently 263 chapters of BACA in several countries, including two in Massachusetts.

If you'd like more information about BACA, click here.

Cox Media Group