The community is coming together to ensure summer bike programs can continue after nearly two dozen bikes were stolen from a Dallas Boy Scout camp in late April.
The stolen bikes amount to a nearly $20,000 loss that will impact several programs that rely on the bicycles, said Scott Arrington, the director of camping for the Boys Scouts of America Circle Ten Council.
The bike barn targeted by thieves on April 22 is tucked into the woods at Camp Wisdom on W. Red Bird Lane in Dallas.
“They broke the door open and just started grabbing bikes,” Arrington said.
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He said 23 out of 30 bikes were stolen or damaged after they were abandoned nearby.
“Bikes are in very high demand. I think the idea is their eyes got a little bigger than maybe what they could feasibly take, and they tried to take more than they could carry out,” Arrington said.
He said the thieves even used the Boy Scouts’ wheelbarrows to carry things out.
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“We were hurt when we found out about the theft. We were upset," Arrington said. "There are a whole lot of programs that are done with those bicycles."
Luckily, support is coming in. Trek Bicycle in Allen has offered up some bikes, as have other groups.
Arrington said they’ll somehow find a way for the programs to continue.
“We persevere, we overcome, and we’ll find a way to deliver this bicycling program that the kids want, and even more desperately need,” Arrington said.
He said the thieves have stolen other things from the camp in previous weeks, like microwaves and air conditioners.
He said the thefts usually happen on Thursday nights.
Cameras have since been purchased and there will be regular patrols now around the area.
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