Participants gather for a photo during a stop in Swainsboro.
Fifty-seven bikers hit the highway Saturday to help a 10-year-old get a double-lung transplant.
“I can’t explain how perfectly everything went,” said Alexander businessman Jack Lovett who organized the 128-mile benefit ride with his son Johnny. “The support has been overwhelming.”
The event was organized for Sawyer Mobley, a Martinez fourth grader who was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis when he was seven weeks old. For more than three months he’s been at the St. Louis Children’s Hospital in Missouri awaiting the life-saving surgery.
Support for Saturday’s fundraiser came from all across the region with bikers riding into Burke from Emanuel, Lincoln, Bulloch, Columbia and Richmond counties, as well as parts of South Carolina.
“People came from every direction,” Lovett said, explaining the event would not have been possible without the help of the Burke County Sheriff’s Office and Vaughn Car Care. “It meant so much to us.”
Bikers meet outside Vaughn Car Care before the ride.
More than $ 4,700 was raised Saturday morning and donations are still coming in from residents and area churches that collected love offerings Sunday.
“ We’re going to exceed five- thousand before it’s over,” Lovett said.
Sawyer’s transplant will cost more than a half-million, and his family must raise more than $50,000 not covered by insurance. As of Monday, $40,435 had been collected.
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