Milk Riders deliver breast milk to babies in need in the New York area. (Picture: Justin Chauncey Photography)

Since 1986, the Sirens Women’s Motorcycle Club has given women who like to ride motorbikes their own place in a male-dominated culture.

As curfews and lockdowns loom, cuffing season will be curfing season for 2020

Now, they’re using their shared passion to do some more good, delivering breast milk to babies in need.

‘An ad was placed in the Village Voice seeking women motorcyclists,’ Sirens’ president, Jen Baquial, told metro.co.uk, of how the club first started.

‘We are women motorcyclists first. Any woman, any bike.


‘Our membership of about 50 women is beautifully diverse in age, race, profession, sexual orientation, and personal style but we all share the love of motorcycling in common and that is what bonds our sisterhood.

(Picture: Justin Chauncey Photography)

‘Our mission is to present a strong, proud, and honorable image of women both in the motorcycling community and the community at large.’



Earlier this year, Jen and the Sirens were approached by Julie Bouchet-Horwitz, the executive director of the New York Milk Bank (NYMB).

The NYMB is a dedicated facility in New York state that collects and pasteurises donated human breast milk.

(Picture: Justin Chauncey Photography)

This breast milk gets sent to babies in need – whether these are babies in hospitals, babies without parents, or babies whose mothers are unable to produce enough milk.

They’re an important organisation that does incredible work. But there’s one thing they really needed help with – actually getting the pasteurised breast milk to those who need it.

One day, Julie was sitting in traffic when she noticed some motorcyclists easily passing through the New York traffic.

(Picture: Justin Chauncey Photography)

That sparked an idea. Julie reached out to Jen, and together, they came up with the concept of Milk Riders – a team of Sirens motorcyclists that’d be able to help to deliver breast milk to any baby in the area.

Jen told us: ‘I invited a NYMB representative to speak at our meeting and after learning about the amazing work that the NYMB has been doing to get life saving breast milk to babies that need it, the club unanimously voted right then and there to officially be involved.’

(Picture: Justin Chauncey Photography)

And with that, the Milk Riders set out on their mission.

‘The logistics are still morphing a bit as the NYMB increases production and accessibility grows,’ Jen explains.

(Picture: Justin Chauncey Photography)

‘But basically, there are two trasportation scenarios that we, Sirens, are positioned to help handle.

‘First, there are milk depots around the greater NYC area where screened donors are able to drop off their breast milk donations.

‘These depots freeze and store the milk until it is able to be transported to the NYMB in Hastings.

(Picture: Justin Chauncey Photography)

‘The other transportation need is bringing processed and pasteurized breast milk from the NYMB to NICU’s or even direct to homes if necessary.

‘I had setup a WhatsApp group for our volunteer Sirens so that if a delivery or depot pickup is needed, NYMB can message the group directly and one of us can “call it”.

(Picture: Justin Chauncey Photography)

‘In both transportation cases, the milk is packaged by the depot or the NYMB per regulatory guidelines and we pretty much strap it down to our motorcycles and zip away.

‘We are volunteering our time and machines. However, the NYMB does reimburse us for tolls and mileage.

‘All Sirens volunteers give proof of insurance and driver’s license before taking a run.’

(Picture: Justin Chauncey Photography)

It’s essentially Uber for donated breast milk, except with volunteers on motorbikes instead of fancy cars. And it’s doing a lot more good than just providing rides when the tube isn’t running.



The Sirens have delivered hundreds of ounces of breast milk since the Milk Riders scheme began, saving NYMB the money they would have spent on expensive couriers, and providing babies and mothers with the breast milk they so desperately need.

(Picture: Justin Chauncey Photography)

‘It seems only natural that human milk is the best food for babies, and we are just doing our small part to help get it to babies and mamas that need it,’ says Jen.

‘We have been flooded with messages of love and support from the breastcommunity and mothers who had babies in NICU.

‘I had no idea how many people would be reached by our efforts. It is very humbling as we are only the middle women doing a small part to help the NYMB.’

(Picture: Justin Chauncey Photography)

The Sirens aren’t asking for any donations to the club, but if you’d like to help the Milk Riders to continue helping out babies that need feeding, you can donate directly to the NYMB through their website.

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