Catholic charity and chrome wheels collaborate three times each year in St. Joan of Arc Parish, Marlton, when the Burlington County community teams up with the Trenton-based Capital City Riders motorcycle club to deliver food and toy donations to the Mount Carmel Guild in Trenton.

The match-up of black leather and beneficence began about a decade ago during the pastorate of Msgr. Armand A. Pedata. The priest, a Mercer County transplant, encouraged his new congregation to further the good works of the guild, which was established by Trenton Bishop Thomas J. Walsh in 1920.

“We are big fans of theirs; they are tremendous,” declared John Sawn of St. Joan of Arc’s Compassion and Healing Ministry of the Mount Carmel Guild, which serves Mercer County’s less fortunate. “They do so much with very little.”

Coordinating parish donations of Thanksgiving food, Christmas toys, and Easter basket items was only half the battle; the parish needed some serious horsepower to navigate the 70-mile round trip, so they contacted the Mount Carmel Guild for help.

Dominican Sister Loretta Maggio, the guild’s program director of Emergency Assistance Services, explained that a former [guild] board member was a member of the Capital City Riders, and he offered the group’s help.

Sister Loretta reflected, “I remember the [Riders’] first time: everything was still and you could hear the motorcycles coming. It was like a horde of bees,” she chuckled.

Trips between the capital city and Marlton continued after the death of Msgr. Pedata; his successor as pastor, Msgr. Richard LaVerghetta, renamed the parish donation staging area Pedata Hall in his predecessor’s honor.

The Easy Riders, Trenton edition, time their arrival at St. Joan’s for midday Sunday. “They always show up during the noon Mass. You can hear the rumble of the bikes in the parking lot,” smiled Sawn. The black-leather clad club members enjoy coffee and donuts after Mass with more traditionally dressed parishioners, then both groups unite to load the trucks and bike trailers with donations for the guild. Sawn noted, “The best thing is, they have never missed a donation day, and have never been late, even in bad weather. There is always plenty of them to help.”

Sharon Pagano and her husband Tom, longtime Capital City Rider members, have participated in the motorcycle caravan since its inception. She is frank about her motivation to help. “Personally, I’ve been on the other end of charity. I know how important it is to the recipient, and I do my part to help someone else in need. This is the least we can do, for we are very fortunate, very blessed,” Pagano said.

The Capital City Riders are an important cog in St. Joan of Arc’s donation cycle, and last month the parish formally honored their partners in charity at a ceremony to coincide with the annual Thanksgiving food drive pick-up. The Compassion and Healing Ministry drafted an oversized poster of appreciation and invited the black-leather clad bikers into church for the Nov. 21 noon Mass. More than 45 club members, their wives and children filled the sanctuary at the conclusion of Mass.

Sawn recounted, “We presented the poster and Father Mike [parochial vicar Father Michael W. Wallack] gave them a blessing,” the parishioner said. “All at once, there was a standing ovation. Father Mike even asked them to join in the closing procession.”

Pagano was humbled by the gesture, remembering, “I was moved to tears by the show of support. People were reaching out to shake our hands and say thanks. We should be giving them an ovation, for they are so generous every year.”

The most recent St. Joan of Arc / Capital City Riders collaboration took place Dec. 19 for the annual Christmas toy donation drive. Club members, serving as Santa’s helpers in black leather, loaded up 45 large bags containing nearly 1,000 Christmas toys onto trucks and trailers for the trip back to the Mount Carmel Guild, waved farewell to the parishioners, and motored back to Trenton on another successful mission.