BRADENTON BEACH – The Bradenton chapter of the Renegades motorcycle club made its annual Christmas gift delivery to the Drift In in Bradenton Beach on Dec. 19.
This year’s recipient family was Tasha (no last name provided), her two-year-old son, Colt, and her four-year-old son, Rocket.
The club members arrived aboard their motorcycles Monday evening accompanied by an SUV filled with Christmas gifts for the family. The gifts were displayed on an outdoor table for a group photo before being loaded into Tasha’s vehicle. The boys were allowed to open one gift that night and together they opened their new 78-piece Kid Connection Dinosaur Gate Play Set.
“It’s really nice,” Tasha said of the Renegades’ charitable efforts.
Renegades’ member Tim “Chopstixxx” Miller said the club’s charitable efforts were inspired by his own family.
“My brother, Dave, started this over 15 years ago. Our mother, Suzie Miller, passed away on Dec. 19, 2001. She struggled raising three boys herself, so it’s a way honor her and to give back to the community,” Miller said.
“We go to our regular bars in the community and get cash donations. Through a third party, or one of the churches, we find a family who’s not affiliated with the club and get in touch with the parents to make sure they’re actually in need and comfortable with us doing this. We get a Christmas list of what the kids want and we go out and buy the gifts. We do well enough that we can usually take care of two families. We start collecting money around Halloween and this year we got about $1,500 from people in the community. The wives, girlfriends and kids do the shopping,” Miller explained.
“We’re a family-oriented club. We’re friendly and approachable. We do family days and birthday parties and we get together and cook. We like helping people and we’ve never had any issues,” Miller added.
Drift Manager Doreen Flynn said, “This is our fifth year of doing this with them. The name of their club is the Renegades, but they have a lot of heart and soul, and they care about the community.”
Unrelated to this event, the Drift In also partners with the Anna Maria Island Privateers to assist underprivileged families during the Christmas holidays.
“We do these things because we want to give to people who need it,” Flynn said.
Derek Williams, Doreen Flynn and Joe Cuervo attended Monday’s event. – Joe Hendricks | SunFlynn was present for the Renegades’ Christmas delivery, but she wasn’t working that night because she recently fell at work, injuring her arm, and missed a few weeks of work after returning from a cruise vacation.
The Renegades gave Flynn a Christmas card containing a cash donation to help offset some of her missed earnings.
“They gave me the most beautiful card and took up a collection for me because I’ve been out of work for a few weeks. I so appreciate it. I’m flabbergasted. I never expected a thing like that, but that’s how generous they are. We all help each other,” Flynn said.
Long-time Drift In owner Joe Cuervo said, “They’re a great group of guys and they like to donate to families in need. They’ve been doing it for a long time. We collect money and donate it to them, and they use that and the other money they collect to go out and buy presents for the kids.”
Ownership change
On Dec. 15, Cuervo sold his share of the Drift In business and property to his son-in-law, Dereck Williams and his wife, Helena, who is Joe and Angie Cuervo’s daughter.
Derek is the president and CIO of the Bradenton-based Williams Wealth Management Group. In February 2021, he and Cuervo purchased the previously leased Drift In building and property in Bradenton Beach from Grant Thormier. That purchase occurred after Cuervo sold the Drift In bar in Bradenton that he also operated on leased property.
“We’re a community-oriented family business,” Williams said. “Helena and I are happy to continue Joe and Angie’s legacy. We love what Doreen’s done to make relationships with our patrons and the local community and we want to continue to support the community.
“I’m a Bradenton native. There’s been a lot of changes in our community. We want to keep certain things the same, but we also want to make the Drift In all it can be. We’re excited to be able to help Joe and Angie retire comfortably and we look forward to doing anything we can to make the Drift In even better,” Williams said.
When asked how he plans to enjoy his retirement, Cuervo said, “I’m going to play some golf, do some fishing, do some woodwork and travel a lot.”
