This story by Captain Hairdo is so good, I’ll just let him tell it.
A stolen and recovered cargo bike Photo: Matthew Rogers
…Sometime between midnight and 3am on November 26th, The AoB was stolen from my home. By early Sunday afternoon- with the help of social media and many friends, I had recovered it. I had expected that, if I ever got it back, it would be trashed. The only damage though is the board you see in the middle of the cargo deck; someone had attached a Christmas tree to that board and then nailed it to the cargo deck. The Christmas tree was, ironically, a key factor in my getting the bike back: the person who had it when I found it (claims he bought it on the street and was not the thief) had been cruising around the Lloyd District with the tree nailed on it trying to sell the tree. A woman took a picture of that outside of a Safeway thinking it was just funny, and posted it to facebook. Within moments a friend of a friend recognized it, got in contact with me, I put out a request on my profile, and a small army of awesome friends quickly descended on the Safeway. We didn’t find him, but we got a bunch of information from people who were there. The next day, several friends and I met there again to look for the bike. My friend Risa asked a guy if he’d seen it, it turned out he had it, and I was able to get it back (thanks, Risa Dale!)
All of this, from the theft to recovery, took place in less than 36 hours. That I got it back was completely due to friends getting the information and pictures out on social media and to the help of my friends and caring strangers (as of yet, the Portland Police Bureau has not responded to my stolen bike report). Many of my friends stepped up to help, as did many caring strangers- several of whom are now new friends. It seemed that people were coming out of the woodwork and bending over backwards to help. That’s what community is all about- friends taking care of friends! I am humbled by and very thankful for the generosity and caring of this galvanized community. And that I have my bike back! I hope I will be able to, in some small way, repay the kindness, caring, and generosity shown to me during this situation.
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