Motivated by kindness, Schwartz gives back

Brady Schwartz, a member of THPRD's Park Patrol, got his first motorcycle in 2008.

“I ride as a hobby,” says the 26-year-old Schwartz. “It’s a unique feeling when you’re on a motorcycle. You kind of drown out all of your day’s problems. It’s a very calming thing to do. It’s good for the soul.”

It was life-changing for Schwartz, who quickly became enamored with his sport bike – a 2009 Honda CBR 1000RR Repsol – and sought out other motorcyclists for rides and camaraderie.

“I got introduced to the motorcycle community through a couple of friends,” Schwartz said. “Tuesday was one of my days off, so we’d ride our cycles out to Ava Roasteria (in downtown Beaverton) and hang out. I said, ‘Let’s make this a regular thing’.”

Schwartz has hosted Tuesday Night Coffee at the popular Beaverton coffeehouse (4655 SW Hall Blvd.) ever since. Rain or shine, year-round, it is held at 7 p.m. every Tuesday. The event has become one of the area’s most popular draws for recreational motorcyclists.

During peak riding season, Schwartz estimates that as many as 300 riders attend. Bikes pack the parking lot at Ava and are scattered among adjacent streets. Amidst a veritable museum of motorcycles, an eclectic crowd – including everyone from high school students to surgeons to families – gathers to discuss and celebrate their shared passion.

“It’s been a good way to curb the general perception of motorcycle riders, who often get a bad rap. Generally, they’re very good people,” Schwartz said.

A simple act of kindness

More than a year before he began riding, another life-altering event shaped his approach to life.

“Two months before I graduated high school, when I was 17 years old, my Dad took his own life,” Schwartz said. “In the back of my head, I knew what was coming, which did help me cope with it.”

The news was nevertheless staggering for Schwartz, who left school temporarily to mourn the loss with family. Upon returning, Schwartz encountered one of his teachers, Beaverton Police officer Mike Rowe, in a hallway.

Officer Rowe assured Schwartz that he need not hurry back to school. He then went a step further.

“He reached into his pocket and pulled out his business card,” Schwartz said. “He wrote on it, handed it to me and said, ‘This is my personal cellphone. Anytime you need anything, even if you wake up in the middle of the night and need someone to talk to, call me.’ ”

Though Schwartz never called, he never forgot the gesture.

“A simple act of kindness,” Schwartz said.

Paying it forward … and back

A self-described quiet, sheltered kid, Schwartz began initiating simple acts of kindness for others.

“I’d pay for someone’s coffee or their groceries, little things like that,” Schwartz said. “Not often, maybe once every six months, but you never know when that little act can change someone’s life.”

The success of Tuesday Night Coffee now allows Schwartz to extend that kindness.

He recently helped establish the Motorcycle Travel America Foundation, which raises money to help the families of riders injured or killed in motorcycle accidents.

Additionally, for each of the last four years, Tuesday Night Coffee has hosted fall fundraisers directly preceding Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Attendees bring food donations for Oregon Food Bank – more than 1,000 pounds were donated last year – while individuals and companies, including Portland-based Icon Motorsports, donate
thousands of dollars in equipment and services to support charity raffles.

Last fall, Schwartz showed his gratitude to Rowe in a much more personal way, only months after Rowe’s wife, Kendall, died of colon cancer.

Schwartz told Tuesday Night Coffee attendees about Rowe’s act of kindness years earlier, and encouraged donations to fund cancer research. By the end of December, Schwartz had raised more than $2,000 in Kendall Rowe’s name for OHSU’s Knight Cancer Institute.

“It’s nice,” said Rowe, “being able to see that a young man is taking a tragic moment and turning it into good, and sharing the ability to do that with other people.”

“It’s nice being able to see that a young man is taking a tragic moment and turning it into good, and sharing the ability to do that with other people,” said Rowe, now Beaverton Police Departmment’s Public Information Officer.

“Doing his fundraiser in my wife’s name, it was very flattering,” he said.

Rowe hadn’t remembered his kind gesture that inspired Schwartz during a difficult time, but said he's pleased it stuck with him.

"It’s nice to see that a young man is able to be kind of an old soul and have those skills," Rowe said. “It’s simple, but so many people don’t do that. We get too caught up in our lives,”